Public vs private food diaries on MFP

I have it closed because I can't imagine anyone would be interested in it

chuckees130 wrote: »

corinasue1143 wrote: »

When I first started, my diary was very private, because I thought everyone else here ate perfectly every day. Then I read some public diaries. I eventually came to know that we’re all doing the best we can do and trying to learn the best ways to do just a little better. So now my diary is open. I can’t imagine why anyone else would WANT to look, but if it helps anyone in any way, then they can look.

I have my diary public and have been trying to meet new people to friend. I'm over 60 could this be why nobody responds?

Just making the diary public doesn't cause friend requests, and even having MFP friends doesn't mean people will comment on your diary.

If it's that you don't have friends, ask for friend requests on one of the threads for that, like maybe this one:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10832868/comment-here-if-you-want-more-friends-2#latest

Or look in the "Introductions" or "Getting Started" parts of the Community, see threads with people asking for friends, send them friend requests.

Another option is to join a challenge group in "Challenges" to meet people. If you want to join a thread for 60+ people (general discussion, not challenge), there's this one:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10718336/60-yrs-and-up#latest

If it's that people don't comment on your diary, start posting status updates with questions, comment on others exercise with encouraging comments, etc.

I have my food diary set to public. It contains no secrets, no proprietary info, no personal info. I don’t have a large set of ‘friends’ but I don’t care if someone sees what I eat.

I guess I don’t understand someone keeping it private when they were probably snapping pics of food porn or posting recipes for Insta or FB before they began pursuing a healthful eating program.

As far as “inspiration” goes…I actually was inspired a few days ago to put spring rolls on the up and coming menu after viewing someone else’s diary. I used to make them all the time when I worked with a bunch of Korean folks and they got me hooked. But now they fell off the food list and I forgot how healthy and tasty they are.

DebbsSeattle wrote: »

I have my food diary set to public. It contains no secrets, no proprietary info, no personal info. I don’t have a large set of ‘friends’ but I don’t care if someone sees what I eat.

I guess I don’t understand someone keeping it private when they were probably snapping pics of food porn or posting recipes for Insta or FB before they began pursuing a healthful eating program.

Mine is only open to friends, which I resist collecting. It's my data, my decision, my way of using the diary which is probably not the way people looking use their diaries. MFP gives you the option to have it closed, so clearly having it open isn't the price of admission.

Neither before nor since coming here did I post recipes on Insta and FB, and only snapped pics of food for a brief while AFTER I started here before my ability to remember what I ate got really strong from exercising it so much. But for people who did choose to post recipes or take pictures of food before they joined MFP and made their diaries private, those were choices they made about how and when and with whom to share. Making the decision to share in one situation doesn't mean they no longer have the right to make a different decision in a different situation.

paperpudding, I thought the same thing:

I guess I don’t understand someone keeping it private when they were probably snapping pics of food porn or posting recipes for Insta or FB before they began pursuing a healthful eating program.

Like...What?

Who even has time to do that? I guess I spend too much time here.

DebbsSeattle wrote: »

I have my food diary set to public. It contains no secrets, no proprietary info, no personal info. I don’t have a large set of ‘friends’ but I don’t care if someone sees what I eat.

I guess I don’t understand someone keeping it private when they were probably snapping pics of food porn or posting recipes for Insta or FB before they began pursuing a healthful eating program.

As far as “inspiration” goes…I actually was inspired a few days ago to put spring rolls on the up and coming menu after viewing someone else’s diary. I used to make them all the time when I worked with a bunch of Korean folks and they got me hooked. But now they fell off the food list and I forgot how healthy and tasty they are.

I guess I don't understand why anyone even cares or speculates about whether and why 3rd parties post food photos, share recipes, or open/close their MFP diaries, personally.

Spring rolls sound pretty great, as an off-topic aside. I've had some good ones from restaurants locally, but have never tried to make them. They do look achievable, and the calories in rice paper are lower than I would've guessed. You're inspiring me to put trying to make them on my 2023 agenda. I might even post them on FB if I do . . . .

Private, because I'm a private person. I'm not opposed to finding "friends," but I'm autistic, which makes building relationships hard for me, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

My diary is set to friends. A few in my circle of foodie friends are into recipes and cooking and trying new ingredients.. as am I.. so we converse on the items in our diaries.