Food Diaries

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135

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  • Strobins05
    Strobins05 Posts: 716
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    My diary is open to my friends. I do not close it daily to be viewed or for comments. I also do not view others diaries unless they ask for suggestions. :flowerforyou:
  • siobhan478
    siobhan478 Posts: 21 Member
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    Until now I had no idea mine was set to private. I've opened mine up, but I can see the appeal of setting it to private or just viewable to friends. There are a lot of judgmental people out there in the world and I prefer to give them as little ammunition against myself as possible.

    Totally agree, I didn't realise until reading this thread that our food diaries could be seen by others, or that we had an option to share or not. I haven't opened mine up as I know I don't have the healthiest diet in the world (long story but I was physically force fed vegetables by a teacher 30 years ago because I wouldn't eat my greens, then projectile vomited over everyone at my table, was bullied about it for years and now can't put a vegetable in my mouth, I'm scarred for life, probably need therapy) I also have some food allergies and the last thing I want is grief from people because they think I should eat differently. But hey, I'm losing weight steadily and I haven't asked for help. Maybe I'll reconsider if I get to that point, but I would only share it with people I become friendly with, not the entire internet, lol.
  • BeetleChe13
    BeetleChe13 Posts: 498 Member
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    Mine is open, but-

    Not everyone is gonna agree with what you eat (clean v. processed), macro settings, the amount you eat (to much, to little), tracking nutrients (sodium, sugar), when you eat (folks who want to skip breakfast, no snacks, ect), what you drink, how much you drink, you getting the idea yet? And there are those that will continually hound you about what you choose to do compared to what they are doing (they're way is always the RIGHT way).

    Better to find people that have the same mind set as yourself (whatever that may be), friend them and share with them only~

    This. Instead of berating people for starving themselves, I just delete them from my friends. I will gladly find more friends who eat well and are healthy. I have never had anyone tell me that I am doing this "wrong" and should try "their way". If people are too judgmental for you to keep your diary open, find new (nicer) people!
  • elfo
    elfo Posts: 353 Member
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    I have mine open. I never thought about it, but some people on here are battling food disorders, and don't feel comfortable having them open. I can totally respect that.
    However, I think that for those who don't and are serious about loosing and being healthy - it's important. It makes it harder to support friends who don't have it open, but I have found that people have their reasons, and they need to be respected.
  • maryjay51
    maryjay51 Posts: 742
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    mine should be opened ..i dont mind people seeing what i eat at all..sometimes people either take some of the stuff i do for themselves and or give me suggestions . im open to anything that either helps others or helps me which is what this website is all about..sometimes i think folks keep their meal intake diary private because they dont want to hear the comments or suggestions. typically --not always --they are hiding something in my opinion ..
  • MelMena
    MelMena Posts: 152 Member
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    Mine is open. I like to look at what others are having because I need ideas for meals and snacks! I would never comment on someones eating habits or choices unless they ASKED for my opinion.
  • abbiepql
    abbiepql Posts: 45
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    I personally don't care, although I always wonder why they ask to be friend for modivation and then they don't share. BUT don't you dare whine to me about not losing weight if you are not giving me all the information.
  • lc971
    lc971 Posts: 104 Member
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    I didn't realize mine was closed until I got familiar with the site. It's open now, and I don't mind if anyone looks at it.
  • chi18
    chi18 Posts: 95 Member
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    I personally don't care, although I always wonder why they ask to be friend for modivation and then they don't share. BUT don't you dare whine to me about not losing weight if you are not giving me all the information.

    I'm not attacking you at all when I say this, but I think it illustrates an interesting point which is that everyone is motivated differently. Some people respond really well to accountability so they keep their diary open and post everything, even if that means they eat a Snickers at 3 AM. Some people won't post that late-night Snickers if they think people will read that and judge them for it - and if you're not being honest with the food diary you may as well not keep one. Some people consider it motivational to have someone post on their food, some feel better when they get an encouraging note for their exercise posts (which are separate from the food diaries). I think the motivation I get on here is great but I also know myself and what I respond to, and trust others to do the same. However, I can understand your frustration with someone who wants to talk about not losing weight but won't offer you the information to offer a solution.

    It makes me think of professional sports - look at someone like Phil Jackson versus someone like Bill Belichick. Totally different coaching styles but with the right players who respond well to that type of coaching they can win championships. On here I think we just need to know our own strengths and weaknesses and what works best for us. If someone thinks that by keeping my diary locked for now mean I'm hiding something, I don't care, because I know what works for me personally, you know?
  • Shock_Wave
    Shock_Wave Posts: 1,573 Member
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    Hey guys! I was just wondering why more people don't share their food diary? I'm relatively new to MFP and most of my friends are people from my area and the majority of them have private diaries.

    I share mine because it doesn't matter to me one way or the other and maybe someone will get an idea from my diary, even though it is rather repetitive.

    So tell me, do you share or not and why?

    Feel free to friend me :)

    Maybe the people who do not share are not consistant and do not want to be judged by eating bad foods or low cals.. dunno just a thought.
    I share my diary only with my friends because they can see my profile page and understand my goals. I try my best and so does my friends so we can all motivate each other and maybe learn new foods.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    You can hop in my diary any day!
    Enjoy!
    Glean some ideas if needed!
  • bikinibeliever
    bikinibeliever Posts: 832 Member
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    Mine is open to friends. I didn't open mine to the public because when I first joined I heard people saying they get nasty messages if they ate cake, ice cream, chocolate. If I go haywire some day I don't need to hear about it. Cause those days happen to skinny people here and there too. Plus I try to make sure I have some calories left for a little dark chocolate.

    I've never had anyone say anything negative so I might open mine to the public.
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    Thanks for your replies guys, didn't even realize how horrible some of the people on here could be to people who share their diaries! Guess I'm too naive to think that a website for weight loss support would not be supportive sometimes. :(
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    Mine is closed because I would occasionally accidentally click "complete this entry" on my diary after lunch instead of after dinners (I do 2 evening meals, so after lunch I'm usually at like 500-600 calories), and then I would get nasty PMs from people, saying I was anorexic and that I should be ashamed of myself and that I wasn't welcome on the site.

    Because I clicked a button too early.

    So the heck with that, diary's private now.

    Wow, that's really awful. If someone doesn't have a lot of calories I normally assume they aren't very good at tracking them, not that they have an eating disorder!
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    I would bet a lot of people don't realize when they set up an account that the default setting is private. For a more personal perspective, I just joined and mine is locked. I may open it up to friends at some point when I'm a little more comfortable with this site and system. And I know that right now I'm more likely to be really honest and record everything (good or bad) when I'm the only one who sees it. Again, that may change when I'm a little more comfortable here.

    I didn't even think of that. I made my account a year or two ago and had completely forgotten the standard settings.
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    Mine is open to friends. I didn't open mine to the public because when I first joined I heard people saying they get nasty messages if they ate cake, ice cream, chocolate. If I go haywire some day I don't need to hear about it. Cause those days happen to skinny people here and there too. Plus I try to make sure I have some calories left for a little dark chocolate.

    I've never had anyone say anything negative so I might open mine to the public.

    I love chocolate! I may be making life changes but I could never be happy in a life without some sweets!!
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    You can hop in my diary any day!
    Enjoy!
    Glean some ideas if needed!

    Thanks I will!!
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    I started mine as private...I only had 2 friends to begin with, but added friends along the way. After trolling some of the forums, I noticed that there are some people that look for food ideas in other journals, so I just made it public.

    i track every day and put everything in there. If I eat a handful of jelly beans, you'll see it. If I have a great night with Captain Morgan, you'll see it! Judge me if you want, but I know I only have to answer to me!

    That's a fantastic attitude! Kudos to you!!
  • Fluxx2009
    Fluxx2009 Posts: 71 Member
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    Mine is public, because I want my friends to be able to offer me helpful advice, and I also don't really care if other MFP members look at it from time to time. I've got nothing to hide!

    CAUTION: Just remember if you look at someone else's diary and it works for them, it does not necessarily mean the same food choices will work for you too.

    that's a good thing to keep in mind, thanks for the tip. :)
  • candctaber
    candctaber Posts: 274
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    Mine is open. I like to look at other peoples diaries to get ideas of something new to try & to help them if they are having problems.

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