Hi guys, This is my first post on here, but I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months now. I will try cut all the waffle, and get straight to the point. No PMO and SR CHANGED MY LIFE. I swear by it. Porn is the devil. Read this and I guarantee you, you'll be motivated like never before. Keep in mind, that I implemented other things in my life which led to my success. However, Nofap was the key thing that initiated/triggered these things. More on what these things are below. My story begins the same as everyone else's. Addicted to PMO since I was a pre-teen, would consume it daily, sometimes for hours when I felt depressed enough. Like many of you, I had no idea what it was doing to me until I tried Nofap. Around October Last year, I hit rock bottom. I was depressed, working a dead-endnjob that I had after finishing uni (which I then quit because I hated it, leaving me jobless), in debt of many forms, had bad credit, couldn't pay my rent, gained weight, smoked weed daily sometimes for days on end, lost motivation to train in the gym, had no respect from fellow men or girls (just lost a girl I really liked a couple months prior). Blamed everyone else for my problems - my dad, the girl who left me (no wonder she did!), the government, society, anyone I could really. I was soft, weak and incompetent. A good day for me consisted of weed, Netflix and a takeaway. If I kept it up, I would have made myself ill. I won't get into how I found Nofap, because it's pretty long. But in short, I was watching mens self-help videos on youtube, where I came across Nofap. This is where my journey began. Since I started in October, I had two streaks. My first streak was about 50 days. I relapsed around Christmas time, and I occasionally PMO'd til the 30th of March this year, which marks the beginning of my second streak. This post will explain all the benefits and success I have achieved since the beginning of my journey, which was 9 months ago now. I am currently on my 93 day hard mode streak. Nothing, no sex, not even an orgasm. I achieved a lot during my first streak, but this second streak is what really propelled my success. Since the beginning of my journey, I have/am: 1. No longer jobless - as a matter of fact, I had 2 jobs since the beginning of my journey. My current job paying more than the previous one, and I am due two salary reviews this year. 2. Moved away from my hometown, by myself for this new job opportunity. My old self would have never done this. I feel confident and optimistic about what the future brings. 3. Back in the gym training - I have lost 5kg of fat, all my abs are visible again and I have a strong athletic physique. I was always training on and off, but because of lack of motivation and comfort eating, I struggled to stay lean. 4. My skin looks better than ever - seriously, I easily look about 3 years younger. Those tired eyeballs full of shame are gone. My skin has cleared up massively, I don't have any spots anymore, and my psoriasis has cleared up. My skin just feels smooth and youthful. 5. I started taking accountability for everything that got me into the position I was in last year. I don't blame anyone anymore. I know it was all my fault. I am constantly working on myself and looking for ways to improve. 6. Deleted social media and cancelled Netflix. instead of wasting my time on pointless shows and mindless scrolling, I invest my time into improving myself by listening to self improvement podcasts, reading forums and reading books. 7. I go to bed at a reasonable time, and wake up at 5am to train before work. 8. Cleared most of my debt, my credit score has went up by 60 points, and no longer owe money to anyone, apart from a healthy amount left on my credit cards. 9. My depression and social anxiety has vanished. I will still feel challenged from time to time, but this is normal. I remember my journey and block out these thoughts. I have the strength and motivation to do so. I can hold eye contact with people, and don't struggle with conversation anymore. 10. Obvious respect from my friends, colleagues, girls and family - I literally feel people gravitate towards me. I am constantly positive, even when I am having a bad day. People love being around me. I am seen as a masculine, strong figure. The girls at my work, even those in more senior positions always seem to want to chat to me, which wasn't the case before. 11. Success with girls - just a couple of weeks ago, I went up to a girl in my previous job and asked her out face to face. Had a class date, could pay for it all (this in itself is a big step up if you consider my previous situation) she was drawn into me the whole time. This is just a recent example And there's more. I am currently sitting in a cafe, and that's what I could remember before I head off to the gym. As mentioned above, there are other things I implemented which undoubtedly contributed to my success, but as I say, it all started with Nofap, and they all complement each other. These things are: 1. Cold showers - I am currently on day 59, I haven't had a hot shower since I started. Seriously, please do this!! The motivation, resilience, energy, sense of achievement and mental clarity after this is insane. I am now at the point, after 59 days where it doesn't bother me at all. I stand underneath a freezing cold shower for 5 minutes straight. I don't crave a hot shower and I don't plan on doing them either. 2. Cut out added sugar - Currently on day 54. No sweets, no cakes or desserts, no sugary drinks, sugary sauces, white bread, nothing. I only drink water, the occasional coffee (no sugar), and the occasional beer or two on a hot day. Diet wise it's not easy as sugar is added to everything, but with a little knowledge and discipline (at the beginning) its more than possible to cut it all out. it's hard at the start but please trust me, that shit is poison and the less you eat of it, the sharper you will be. I challenge you to do this for at least 30 days and see for yourself!! 3. gym - you MUST exercise!! ideally, you want to do both cardio and weights every week. Trust me, I probably don't have to tell you guys this but the benefits are insane. I can answer you guys questions on these 3 things if anyone is interested, and I strongly advise you to research the benefits of these things and start implementing them in your life along with Nofap. Honestly guys, I have went from a jobless, skint, depressed loser to a confident, competent, sharp man with goals and ambitions. The longer I go without it, the better I feel. STOP watching porn. If you keep relapsing, or struggle to get past a couple of days/weeks, start TODAY and DO NOT look back. You KNOW yourself how it affects you. YOU CAN STOP IT. I promise you, what's waiting on the other side will be SO worth it. You're stronger than this, I promise you!! I will keep an eye on this thread and try to answer any questions you guys may have! And I will also give an update at 190, and 365 days. Because at this point I KNOW I will get there. the thought of it makes me feel sick. Peace and love <3
Thanks for the reply brother. Trust me, I cannot tell you how much it’s worth it. And in my experience, once you get past 60-70 days, it just gets easier. This would make sense, as science suggests that it takes around 66 days for a new behaviour to become “automatic”. You’ll still have days when you’ll think about it of course, but you learn to control temptation. Best of luck to you my friend!
This is a great story. I noticed that you didn't mention anything much about energy levels, sleep, fatigue, etc. These are the things I'm struggling with the most right now. Waking up feeling like shit, like my body is just begging me to go back to sleep. Sleep itself feels pretty unrefreshing. And throughout the day I just feel like I have almost no energy except what's needed for the most basic and necessary activities (i.e., work). Exercise feels unrewarding and difficult most of the time; it doesn't generally make me feel very good. I'm currently on day 76 of my own streak and I'm starting to wonder if these symptoms are related to my porn use at all. I'm about 36 and probably starting watching porn sometime in my teens and have done so fairly regularly since then. About 2.5 years ago is when I read Your Brain on Porn and started trying to remove it from my life (having a couple of streaks before now of roughly 20 and 60 days). Anyways, each time I remove porn from my life it seems like I experience some pretty substantial withdrawal symptoms which has lead me to believe that I've likely suffered some kind of addiction-related brain changes. Perhaps I've been suffering from a fucked up dopamine system for several years now which might explain my symptoms and difficulty with sleep and such. And although I have had some good days since I began this latest streak, so far I haven't experienced this inflection point where I feel like everything changes and suddenly I have a high degree of motivation, energy and drive. I've heard guys talk about how they feel like a "wet blanket was suddenly lifted off their brain" and they talk about actually having energy in the morning and sleeping better and whatnot. Man, that's what I want more than anything else. I just want to feel good. I also take cold showers daily, I've started implementing exercise (though the past couple weeks I haven't done much b/c I've felt so shit), I've improved my diet to at least some degree (haven't removed added sugar yet), but I have definitely followed no pmo to a fairly strict degree in both my actions and my thoughts. So I guess I'm getting a little discouraged that perhaps this actually isn't what's been affecting me for a few years now. Or, maybe it is and I just need to give it more time. I have heard of some guys not feeling much better for a number of months, after all. Gabe Deem said that his withdrawal symptoms lasted for I think 6 months. Anyways, just curious if you ever struggled with this sleep and fatigue shit and if it resolved in any way for you over the course of your journey.
I actually chose to join this forum after reading this post. Very inspirational. I'm very happy to hear that you managed to turn your whole life around. I've just started down this path (it's been a few weeks), but sometimes you need a reminder that success is very much possible.
Very inspirational bro. Looking to follow in your footsteps. Used to love doing cold showers, but I'm reluctant to pursue right now. Hot showers are so relaxing, and I feel tired afterwards. Often I get back into bed. Keep it up man.
I have to be honest, sleep has been an issue for me. Sometimes I'll toss and turn until 2 in the morning, and late at night is usually when my urges get strongest. Let me know if you ever come across any techniques to help mitigate this. I tried melatonin in the past, but the doses I used to take do nothing for me.
The best I've found for sleep is reading in bed. I use a kindle. Other than that, L-theanine and ZMA are great for sleep too.
Well, I literally have been diagnosed with moderate obstructive sleep apnea so I should probably focus my efforts on treating that lol.
Breathe by James Nestor is an interesting read on that subject. Not sure if it's true, but he likes mouth-taping. *Not medical advice*
Thanks for your replies guys, it's nice to see my post is inspiring you all. First of all congrats on your streak, very respectable numbers! So from what I know/heard, how quickly you'll experience increased energy levels rom stopping PMO largely depends on the individual and how severe your porn addiction was. I personally experienced lethargy in the first couple of weeks, but as time went on, I gained it back. I will say this as well, removing added sugars made a huge difference too. I felt like shit for about a week, but gained a lot of energy afterwards. What I would recommend is checking your bloods. Get a full blood count and a hormone panel done. A friend of mine recently went to the doc with similar problems you're experiencing and he had found out his testosterone was low (I'm not saying this will be your issue, but it is worth a check!). Also, how much sleep are you getting at night? how stressful is your job? Do you have a fairly good routine? Or, like I said before, you might just be one of those people with a longer flatline. I would say definitely keep up Nofap, don't be discouraged by your lack of energy because you never know, you could be a month, week, or even a couple of days away from getting out of that flatline. Amazing news, welcome to the forum bro! I promise you it's possible. Believe in yourself and you can fight this, I honestly wouldn't tell you this if I didn't know fr sure it's possible. Appreciate it man!! If hot showers make you sleepy they would be ideal before bed if you struggle to sleep. Hopefully we will have you back in the cold shower crew again soon!
Just seen you wrote this, hormonal imbalances can actually be the cause of that. Definitely worth getting some bloods done!
Well done on the 100 days bud!! It’s such a great feeling to have that behind you right! Each day gets a bit better and easier… just keep your guard up!
thanks man, appreciate your post! Honestly one of the best things I ever done in my life. I can’t stress enough how bad porn is and how much each and every man would benefit from stopping it!
I second that - but also how its effects should be better understood and talked about to stop more people falling into the trap. I look at when I first started using P - if I had known the damage I was doing then, and how it would affect my future self, I would hope that it would stop me going further.
I don't speak English I translated your post to understand it, thank you for this inspiring story and I am happy for you, you made me excited. Thank you
I'm on day 93 nofap I still feel fatigued and a little bit of anxiety I'm really worried don't know why I still feel like shit around this many days eat healthy but at this moment to tired to workout
Today I just matched my second longest streak of all time in 19 years of PMO. The longest I've ever gone without PMO is one month. 93 days feels like a long way off, but it feels doable seeing the people here that have already done it, and I'm confident in my current strategy to pull through rough patches.
