Is your diary public or private? Why?

Mine is private. I'm not a nutrition expert but I figure I know enough about it to know what I should/should not be eating. I don't need complete strangers to police me on everything I put in my mouth. When it comes to junk food, in the rare event that I eat it, I'm good enough at making myself feel needlessly guilty over it and don't need anyone else adding to it!

One of my friends on MFP has a friend who, when my friend finishes her food log for the day, will leave comments like "Not enough fruit" or "Watch your sodium!" or whatever. It would drive me crazy to have people do that.

Like someone already said in this thread... If I need help, I'll ask for it.

I am sorry to hear your friend had that experience. I have loads of friends on MFP and my diary is public and have never had a comment like that. I feel if you are going to give kudos to someone for completing their food diary then you should be able to peek at what they ate. It is also a good way to find new things to eat and to yes encourage someone.

I dont understand why the people that keep it private feel like hearing advice from other people is such a bad thing....the people you add become your friends they're not strangers.

that's how I feel. however; I speak only from what I've seen, friends who were eating very little calories decided to make theirs private. I can only speculate that they were somehow ashamed of what or how little they were eating. that's not always the case though. mines was private when I didn't know it could be public, lol.

Public.
It keeps me from over indulging.
And offers people the ability to critique my food intake.

I can understand the benefits of a public diary, but I just can't do it. It's not an issue of accountability or wanting input, it's a matter of judgement. Every time I think about unlocking it, even just for my friends, I read a post from someone about how they can't believe what some people eat.

For me, it's not about what's in the diary as much as what's NOT in the diary. Sure, I might have some taco bell, tonight I had some oreos (very special treat). I might go over my sodium or fat. I might not hit all my protein. I promise I won't immediately drop dead from this.

I can't handle someone looking at my diary and thinking I did lousy today without knowing what it would have looked like a year ago.

A year ago, a normal day would've looked something like this:

Breakfast: McDonald's Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Bagel, Hash Brown, & Large Sweet Tea
Second Breakfast: 2 Donuts
Lunch: Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich with extra mayo, large french fries, large diet coke (maybe another sweet tea)
Afternoon snack: 2 slices of coconut cake, egg roll
Dinner: 3/4 a large pizza from Little Caesar's, 1 and 1/2 packages (not servings) of crazy bread w/diet pepsi

And I might have had a few scoops of ice cream in a cream soda before bed.

Nope, don't care what you might think what I ate today. lol

My diary is open to my friends. I like that they can see my good, bad & ugly days! Helps to keep me accountable and less likely to venture too far into the "no, no zone". They really do (gently) help keep me on the straight and (eventually) narrow.

The folks on my list are nonjudgmental with their support! I've only had to "unfriend" on person. I noticed them using a condescending/sarcastic tone to some of their posts. Not the type of people I want in my life.

Mine is public because idgaf.

public..it keeps me accountable!

Mine is locked with a key number.....why? Because I joined here to lose weight to be healthier while dealing with primary progressive MS. My diary is accessible to those I choose to give the # to....primarily my nutritionist who helps me monitor the foods that I need to eat to stay as healthy as possible with the MS as I lose the weight. I tried public for a while but there were too many people who didn't understand my unique situation.

Public. Because why hide it. It is what it is. I don't lie about my weight either. 201.7 today... Trying to get back into ONEderland AGAIN. lol

private. because i dont want/need anybody's input on what im eating. when i need help ill ask for it and open it to the public

I feel the same way. I dont need somebody to tell me that I went over on my sodium, or I shouldn't have had that slice of pizza cause I know and Im already hard on myself.

I agree with you both, and mine is private. :glasses:

Mine is public. I think it makes me think harder about what I'm about to eat, knowing that its out there for everyone to see. Plus, I like to read others diary's, hoping to get some new ideas, and perhaps someone can get some from mine.

Mine is private. I'm not a nutrition expert but I figure I know enough about it to know what I should/should not be eating. I don't need complete strangers to police me on everything I put in my mouth. When it comes to junk food, in the rare event that I eat it, I'm good enough at making myself feel needlessly guilty over it and don't need anyone else adding to it!

One of my friends on MFP has a friend who, when my friend finishes her food log for the day, will leave comments like "Not enough fruit" or "Watch your sodium!" or whatever. It would drive me crazy to have people do that.

Like someone already said in this thread... If I need help, I'll ask for it.

I agree with you. Mine is private as well. I also know what I should or should not be eating. I would rather go to a nutrionist or RD to get advise if I need it. I am sure people are trying to be helpful but they are not experts but actually could be helpful to some because some people have no clue how to eat healthy. I saw a post once that the person couldn 't understand why they weren't losing weight so they opened up their diary. They were not only over with calories and every other nutrient. They were eating mostly sweets and processed foods. Not much healthy food. I couldn't bring myself to comment on that post.

public...i really dont care if peeps see my profile.

Public to my friends. I have nothing to hide and I can take whatever anyone dishes out. If they piss me off, then I'll delete from my friends list but I haven't had any problems whatsoever.