Lying on Food Diary

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Replies

  • MPDean
    MPDean Posts: 99 Member
    Occasionally
    If I have calories left at the end of the day I sometimes use them up on chocolate or ice cream but don't log it. If I am further tempted I will log what I previously ate to stop me eating more otherwise I will just leave it showing a non-existant deficit.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,281 Member
    it is your diary for your informaiton.... so you can't really lie to yourself ..you know the truth, but..by logging it., you now know how many exercise calories you can burn to negate the ill effects of eating the slice.

    it is all good
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    When I logged, I just figured nothing would ever be perfect, and even if I was over on a day, it wasn't usually enough to put me over maintenance and I was usually still in a deficit...just a smaller one. Add to that, I would also have days where I was under so for the most part things just evened out. I never saw any point in not logging it...your body is logging it whether you put it on paper or not.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    What’s the point? Your body knows you ate the calories.Not much point in lying or cheating about what you ate., unless it makes you feel better about eating it. The psychology of weight loss is interesting.
  • emmies_123
    emmies_123 Posts: 513 Member
    oh my gosh yes it is tempting to not log an item when you know it is bad for your goals. The way I try to get around my brain's sabotage is two-fold:

    1. Pre-log when I can. This prevents me from allowing myself little snacks throughout the day, because i know how little leeway I have. I'm a creature of habit most of the time, and i'm good at meal-prepping work lunches, so this works for me.
    2. Remind myself when I do stray that if I don't log it i'm going to be confused why my weight went up (I have super small deficit window, so 200 calories over is going to affect me). Or i'll falsely assume i gained weight because of a healthy choice I made. So I better log accurate!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,593 Member
    I used to want a perfect diary with no red numbers. But once I was able to let go and consistently log into the red it was empowering. Looking at the weekly stats helped me see that it was never as bad as I thought it was. And I no longer feel like my diary is judging me.
  • LoKoMi
    LoKoMi Posts: 51 Member
    I totally understand the temptation!

    Over the past 18 mos I’ve lost 70 pounds. I’ve logged every day except for Thanksgiving and a special anniversary dinner. Some days under, some days over. Mostly weighing and measuring portions, sometimes estimating.

    Logging everything shows me that I still make progress after “bad” weeks, and I can have a fluctuation/gain after a “good” week, but overall I’ve averaged just about 1lb/week loss, with 2-3 the first 6-9 mos. Logging mainly helps keep me on track overall.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
    I try not to. What's the point of logging If you are not going to closely watch your intake?
  • MichelleMinn
    MichelleMinn Posts: 90 Member
    Diatonic12 wrote: »
    Nuh huh. That's why I keep my diary private. I might be tempted to start performing or make it perfect. I'm flawed and so is my diary. There's all kinds of ways to hack our food and the system but I don't want to.

    For some people, it works the other way, they do better knowing others can see it.

    I'm not temp
    nooboots wrote: »
    RosetteMak wrote: »
    Does anyone else find themselves being tempted to lie on their food diary entries?

    I realized that I overate today, so I decided to not enter the slice of pizza I carelessly ate after dinner. I didn't want to see my calorie amount go in the red. After about a half hour I went back and added it in, since I realize I need to be honest with myself about what I'm eating, whether it was between meals or not. I struggle to hold myself accountable for "careless" meals or snacks, like a couple fistfuls of chips between meals. I need to be more honest and more aware of my eating!

    Trying to cut out snacking, wish me luck!

    I mean...does it really matter? It's not lying-who are you lying to? A bunch of strangers on MFP? We're not here to judge you-you certainly don't need to judge yourself. In the end it's food. It's not having an affair with someone. I think sometimes people take it too seriously. MFP and other calorie counters can only be so accurate. And our body, in the end, doesn't come down to a mathematical equation.

    I think you probably misunderstand why people do this. Its not about lying to others, its a maladaptive coping strategy, if you dont log it, it didnt happen, therefore you can continue to over eat, you're protecting yourself from the harsh truth of what you eat, but equally therefore causing yourself more harm. Its not logical but its what people do.

    This is similar to why I will die in the zombie apocalypse ... I will close my eyes in the illogical belief that if I can't see them, they can't see me.


  • koalathebear
    koalathebear Posts: 236 Member
    I am sometimes tempted. I know it's private - but it's a shame thing. That I've let myself down blah blah blah.

    Sometimes I enter the food into the diary before I eat it just to test if I still really want to eat it. If I do, then I eat it, if not, then I don't eat it and delete the item...

    There have been times when I've impulsively eaten and then either though:
    1. maybe I won't bother entering it; or
    2. I didn't eat that much, maybe I'll just say I ate a half portion or 3/4 ...

    I always go back and adjust though because I need to be honest with myself given MFP is helping me to keep myself accountable. If I've eaten too much, then I can either do more exercise today or tomorrow ... in any case, it's a salutatory reminder I suppose to try to stay on track.

    That's why even though the "If every day were like today... You'd weigh xxx kg in 5 weeks " is pretty useless, I do keep an eye on it because it lets me know if that day was a blow out day or a good day :)