Why do you care if people read your food diary?
Replies
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paperpudding wrote: »domeofstars wrote: »This is a question for the people who have their food diary set to private. I'm just wondering why you care if people read it?
I guess I would see this other way round , why do you care if you can't read it?
I don't need help on my food intake ( I do think it is helpful if people seeking help open their diaries) and I don't see how my diary is of any benefit or interest to anyone else and I don't need everything about me available for people to idly peruse.
The reason I look at others diaries is for guidance I find it helpful to see an example of what a healthy proportionate meal may look like especially if we are eating a similar diet or to get ideas on foods or meal prep.3 -
paperpudding wrote: »eatyogarun wrote: »domeofstars wrote: »This is a question for the people who have their food diary set to private. I'm just wondering why you care if people read it?
And I wonder why people care that I have it private. So we're even.
Edited to add: thank you to all of the other people saying they'd be more likely to fudge if it was public. I'm the same way. There was a thing here for a while where people insisted you were hiding/lying if your diary wasn't open. Weird hill to die on.
Yes there was too.
Along with that other thing that bothers some people : if your avatar is not a photo of yourself.
It has happened to me once when my diary was open, in a thread about daylights saving or doctors being overweight or people wearing make up to the gym or something* and someone posted why should I value your opinion when you only eat x amounts protein per day.
* can't remember exact thread topic but absolutely nothing to do with my diary or how I eat or anything about me personally.
@paperpudding
I am so disillusioned. I thought you were a credible source of input. Now I find out your protein is inadequate.
That same person reading mine would likely think I wrote the book on all things overweight doctors and saving daylight time. My protein intake is too high lately which is another good reason not to share:
Just because someone is engaged in an overall successful system does not mean the diary snapshot you are looking at is part of it. There are a lot of things that I put in my 20 percent bucket which means this is my moderated category. Things like fast food, processed food, and desserts. I also do not like days of highly unbalanced macros or extraordinarily high fiber.
However, I do not live in a system of strict requirements unless it is something that really makes me feel bad. I live in a system of optimal guidelines. Optimal value for calories. Optimal nutrition. Optimal macros. Optimal fiber. Optimal satiation. Optimal sodium control to keep my scale from singing soprano more than needed.
If you looked at yesterday and the day before I have not been eating optimally. Halloween snuck up on us and in favor of getting a lot of things done fast we have eaten out more than normal then followed it up with party food. On top of all that I am over my calories. I have noted a slight deviation in a few areas but nothing uncomfortable... just different. I do not believe our bodies need nonstop super regulated eating including nutrition. I believe we are designed well for detours. So snapshots, even an entire week, can fail to tell the whole story.3 -
Because looking at my diary doesn't give someone the full story. All they see is what is logged (or not logged). What they don't know is that I deal with health issues (physical and mental) that make a huge impact. Without that information, without knowing what my doctor and therapist say, without knowing how I feel a specific day, they could end up coming to an incorrect conclusion. Then they try and give "advice" that does nothing but actually make things worse.8
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paperpudding wrote: »eatyogarun wrote: »domeofstars wrote: »This is a question for the people who have their food diary set to private. I'm just wondering why you care if people read it?
And I wonder why people care that I have it private. So we're even.
Edited to add: thank you to all of the other people saying they'd be more likely to fudge if it was public. I'm the same way. There was a thing here for a while where people insisted you were hiding/lying if your diary wasn't open. Weird hill to die on.
Yes there was too.
Along with that other thing that bothers some people : if your avatar is not a photo of yourself.
It has happened to me once when my diary was open, in a thread about daylights saving or doctors being overweight or people wearing make up to the gym or something* and someone posted why should I value your opinion when you only eat x amounts protein per day.
* can't remember exact thread topic but absolutely nothing to do with my diary or how I eat or anything about me personally.
@paperpudding
I am so disillusioned. I thought you were a credible source of input. Now I find out your protein is inadequate.
That same person reading mine would likely think I wrote the book on all things overweight doctors and saving daylight time. My protein intake is too high lately which is another good reason not to share:
Just because someone is engaged in an overall successful system does not mean the diary snapshot you are looking at is part of it. There are a lot of things that I put in my 20 percent bucket which means this is my moderated category. Things like fast food, processed food, and desserts. I also do not like days of highly unbalanced macros or extraordinarily high fiber.
However, I do not live in a system of strict requirements unless it is something that really makes me feel bad. I live in a system of optimal guidelines. Optimal value for calories. Optimal nutrition. Optimal macros. Optimal fiber. Optimal satiation. Optimal sodium control to keep my scale from singing soprano more than needed.
If you looked at yesterday and the day before I have not been eating optimally. Halloween snuck up on us and in favor of getting a lot of things done fast we have eaten out more than normal then followed it up with party food. On top of all that I am over my calories. I have noted a slight deviation in a few areas but nothing uncomfortable... just different. I do not believe our bodies need nonstop super regulated eating including nutrition. I believe we are designed well for detours. So snapshots, even an entire week, can fail to tell the whole story.
Oh dear
in the interests of nobody else labouring under any illusions - paperpudding's diary or lifestyle makes no claims to be perfectly nutritious or accuracy of logging or a gold standard of anything.
Except perhaps being the poster child of Close enough is good enough and Lazy Logging works for me
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Because no one needs to know that I drink half a liter of wine on a friday. Oh wait.....crap.....might as well open it up now.13
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You can read mine but it is full of sloppy logging, poor decisions and empty calories. I like to think of it as a warning on how NOT to eat.
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It never occurred to me that someone would want to see mine. Why would they? It has never once occurred to me to look at someone else's diary.3
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lemongirlbc wrote: »Because no one needs to know that I drink half a liter of wine on a friday. Oh wait.....crap.....might as well open it up now.
What happened to the other half?4 -
I think mine is set to "Friends" or something like that. Someone asked on the forums once about ideas on how to get more protein in diet. Instead of typing out ideas in the forum, I just opened diary and told the person to look. It was quicker, and I have nothing to hide. I'm not exactly a "private person"...I'm more like an "open book."
I've never gotten rude messages...and I would just delete and delete the person anyway. Judgmental comments about what I eat or drink (maybe a few beers) would say more about the judgey troll than me.2 -
deputy_randolph wrote: »I think mine is set to "Friends" or something like that. Someone asked on the forums once about ideas on how to get more protein in diet. Instead of typing out ideas in the forum, I just opened diary and told the person to look. It was quicker, and I have nothing to hide. I'm not exactly a "private person"...I'm more like an "open book."
I've never gotten rude messages...and I would just delete and delete the person anyway. Judgmental comments about what I eat or drink (maybe a few beers) would say more about the judgey troll than me.
That's when only Rachel and Ross can see your diary, unless they're on a break?
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IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »lemongirlbc wrote: »Because no one needs to know that I drink half a liter of wine on a friday. Oh wait.....crap.....might as well open it up now.
What happened to the other half?
Challenge accepted.4 -
I don't worry about it. I've only once had someone ask me to explain what an item on my list was, but never any rude comments.
Personally I found it quite an eye opener to see how people's eating was affected by cultural and perhaps socio-economic differences, but I would never comment on it. And some people list every meal of the day as a restaurant brand, with never a home prepared meal.
But after a while it gets boring. I really don't look any more. Apart from the diary though, I really don't like to accept a Friend Request from a person whose whole profile is locked.2 -
bold_rabbit wrote: »I don't mind people looking at my diary, I think it's pretty interesting seeing what people eat but I get hungry doing it and I'm normally (not the last couple weeks) eating an anti-inflammatory diet so all the sweets give me cravings for things I can't have! The comments every once and awhile throw me, I think I'm so used to thinking of what I do as private that when someone notices little things it surprises me. My favorite comment in the last two years was after I had a major sugar craving and only had apples in the house and ate like 4 in a row, I logged it as one apple and someone commented that I ate huge apples. I weigh everything so it was like a 600 gram apple! That had to be a sarcastic comment, right? That would be like a watermelon!
Wait, was that me? That sounds like the kind of joke I would make! 😁
I don't remember who said it, that's the funny thing!0 -
@psychod787 what do you mean it's open to friends? I could be learning from a master and I've been ignoring it due to being too lazy to click!?!
I had some happy times when we were doing 10+ Bunnie a day contests (850+g of fruits and vegetables) and Dutch girl would clean out with 20+😹
And while @fernt21 was around she used to call me out on my Halloween 20+ fun bars and talk me into bunnies!!😹
I switched from public to friends after a couple of @paperpudding type comments including a major blow up by someone who was not losing weight as desired and was looking at inputs while failing to grasp that the caloric balance part of caloric balance is where the rubber meets the road.
But, I sure that @paperpudding is "hiding" her diary only because it is full of.... oh you know I'm going to say it... It is full of protein stealing cucumbers, dill pickles, and other cucurbits!!!!😹😹😹
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I keep it public since lying to myself has not worked for me in the past. I've got nothing to hide and I'm not ashamed of what I eat or drink. For so many years I was embarrassed of my diet but since making healhier choices I found that's not the case anymore.1
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I only recently realised you could take it off the default private setting. I've set it to friends for now as for me that makes more sense if someone in my bubble can see it if I wanted any feedback on it. I'm not bothered really who knows what I've eaten but at the same time its not really the business of every man and his dog to know what brand of tea I drink.
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I keep the food diary for myself. I have no interest in any input from others, so why would I share it. It's on a need-to-know basis and no one else needs to know.5
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But, I sure that @paperpudding is "hiding" her diary only because it is full of.... oh you know I'm going to say it... It is full of protein stealing cucumbers, dill pickles, and other cucurbits!!!!
You and your obsession with cucumbers
far more likely it is full of cheesecake, pavlova,chocolate muffins.....
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I keep it public since lying to myself has not worked for me in the past. I've got nothing to hide and I'm not ashamed of what I eat or drink. For so many years I was embarrassed of my diet but since making healhier choices I found that's not the case anymore.
If that is part of your process then good for you. You are not the only one that feels that a public diary is a way of adding an extra layer of accountability. I have seen people say that several times. I do think there are people that randomly look at them so it is probably getting read here and there. I usually only look if someone asks for help or if I am trying to see if someone has been around lately. On the latter I do not really look at the specifics I just look to see if anything was logged.
I feel it would be irresponsible to share mine. My current way of eating has been the work of almost 3 years of gradual changes. People looking at diaries are often at the beginning of their attempt and I encourage those people to eat in a way that feels normal to them and modify just enough to get to their calorie goal and mostly control hunger doing it. Most likely the healthiest thing they can do is to lose weight even if it is with chicken nuggets and fries. Create a deficit, get started, change as needed.
The way I eat now is not the way I ate in the beginning and it would probably give the wrong idea. I do not want people to jump to the end and eat the way they may eat when they are closer to some sort of goal. That just makes things harder. My diet is, at times, embarrassingly healthy. I can get kind of lazy and stick to high amounts of fish, vegetables, beans, and egg whites. There are times when it looks like the teenage version of me has taken back over too but those are a little more rare. Oh and no one should think they need as much protein as I eat, not even @paperpudding, I eat a crazy pants amount.
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@psychod787 what do you mean it's open to friends? I could be learning from a master and I've been ignoring it due to being too lazy to click!?!
I had some happy times when we were doing 10+ Bunnie a day contests (850+g of fruits and vegetables) and Dutch girl would clean out with 20+😹
And while @fernt21 was around she used to call me out on my Halloween 20+ fun bars and talk me into bunnies!!😹
I switched from public to friends after a couple of @paperpudding type comments including a major blow up by someone who was not losing weight as desired and was looking at inputs while failing to grasp that the caloric balance part of caloric balance is where the rubber meets the road.
But, I sure that @paperpudding is "hiding" her diary only because it is full of.... oh you know I'm going to say it... It is full of protein stealing cucumbers, dill pickles, and other cucurbits!!!!😹😹😹
@PAV8888 yes sir. Mine has the option to have it open to friends. Easy on @fernt21 , she only does it because she loves you. Love ya to bro...😗2 -
I have off and on disordered eating patterns and I just don't think my diary will help anyone and some of my eating mistakes are embarrassing7
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Just a PSA I never judge when I look at diaries I just look for ideas of what to eat!2
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I have been away from MFP for a long while, I would like to clear my history and start over, rather than slog through page after page of old meals. I know 2 years ago MFP said they were working this, has it happened?0
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xodreamariexo wrote: »Just a PSA I never judge when I look at diaries I just look for ideas of what to eat!
I find this confusing. I do not expect that I will like the way others eat, that we would have similar calorie goals, or that eating that way would control my hunger. I think I would probably have to look at many diaries to find one compatible with my tastes and needs. Seems like the hard way to get ideas.
If I want a specific type of recipe or a recipe featuring certain ingredients I just google it. I can then pick and choose from many if not hundreds of possibilities by the ingredient list and how much effort I wish to invest.8 -
xodreamariexo wrote: »Just a PSA I never judge when I look at diaries I just look for ideas of what to eat!
I find this confusing. I do not expect that I will like the way others eat, that we would have similar calorie goals, or that eating that way would control my hunger. I think I would probably have to look at many diaries to find one compatible with my tastes and needs. Seems like the hard way to get ideas.
If I want a specific type of recipe or a recipe featuring certain ingredients I just google it. I can then pick and choose from many if not hundreds of possibilities by the ingredient list and how much effort I wish to invest.
^^exactly👍🏻👍🏻
I’ve been on MFP a very long time, and never once looked at anyone else’s diary.
MFP is a tool, and Google is a tool. Both useful for.helping me me achieve my goals.5 -
I think I've only ever looked at someone else's diary when someone else commented about how good a meal looked in the discussion under the completed diary for the day. And I think I've only ever looked back through mine when I was convinced that I had a food allergy and I wanted to investigate.0
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This seems like such a strange question. Why do you care if people read your emails or listen in to your phone conversations or dig through your trash or see all of the pictures on your phone? If I am asking for help and having people look at my diary helps then I'll make it public. Otherwise why would I want to open myself up to strangers being able to dig around in my personal data for no reason? No one needs to know what my diary looks like but me, if that changes I'll change my settings.
In other words, it doesn't mean people are hiding anything it just means that it's none of your business.
As others said it's easier to keep it private than to make it public.13 -
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paperpudding wrote: »
THIS is exactly what I thought. Saves a lot of hassel.1 -
Why do you feel entitled to know what anyone else is eating? If they don't see the benefit of changing to public, that's their decision and they don't need to justify it to anyone.
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