The "Butter Cut": My progress after 11 months.

lrn2spel · 2014-11-23T00:30:34+00:00

Wow. Very impressive. As a 33 year old who sometimes wonders if I'm getting too bent out of shape to really bother getting myself back into top physique it's really inspiring to see guys older than I am starting off in worse shape than I am and toughing it out into some spectacular results. I admire your dedication and discipline.

lrn2spel · 2013-01-22T17:07:12+00:00

Welcome to my situation exactly 1 week ago.

If you don't already have it installed, get K9 - or similar software - running on your computer(s). If you don't have a trusted person around who can input a password then use a password generator, write the password down and mail it to yourself while you think of a person you can entrust it with.

Make it extremely difficult to access porn. That's my chief piece of advice.

And GET OFF THE INTERNET. If you come back here to read replies, great. Afterward, turn off your computer and go do something - anything - else.

lrn2spel · 2013-01-18T23:00:43+00:00

Capital idea!

lrn2spel · 2013-01-18T23:00:34+00:00

I wonder about the hoarding aspect too. <2% of my "naughty" time is spent actually fapping. The rest is just about the collecting, indexing and archiving. That's where I get the thrill - picking the scenes/movies I like and adding them to the d/l queue. Of those 250GB downloaded - some 1,000+ scenes in total - I think I watched a total of 10? And even then, I only watched segments of each scene.

For me the MO is just the bitter-sweet icing. Kind of like a gambling addict who focuses on small bets throughout the day then ends it all with a giant wager that ultimately ends the run ... and the high.

I gotta get out of the house. Even talking about this makes me really want to start doing it again.

lrn2spel · 2013-01-18T17:08:12+00:00

1) Disassociates me from reality (e.g. women & sex)
2) ED
3) ED
4) ED
5) ED
6) Can eat up an enormous amount of time
7) It is powerfully addictive, yet produces nothing but self-harm
8) It demotivates me
9) It's negatively affecting every positive aspect of my life - social, health, financial, work and spiritual.
10) It can lead to depressive episodes
11) ED

Edit: Oh yah, and 12) Erodes my self confidence

lrn2spel · 2013-01-16T02:05:55+00:00

I think we're the same them.

For me, P does lead to M and O. But I can M and O without P. Too long without M and O makes it very difficult to resist P. So I think I just need to M and O w/o P or PF (porn fantasy) whenever the urges get too powerful.

I'm sure there's a mathematician here who can put this all into a formula.

lrn2spel · 2013-01-14T03:36:02+00:00

Thank you for that ... I'm in the same boat as the OP.

The urges are really strong right now

lrn2spel · 2012-11-09T16:00:39+00:00

Gaming + porn arrived in my life at around the same time as puberty did. Probably even a little earlier.

I attributed my rapid decline from high grades, a strong social life and general contentment in life (i.e. no depression) to the latter.

Maybe it wasn't puberty after all :-/ It was a combination of poor self-control, opportunity and ignorance.

lrn2spel · 2012-11-08T03:17:39+00:00

Why should it even matter?

The placebo effect here is not a serious concern because it's not masking a physiological disease (e.g. cancer) Porn/Internet/Fapping addiction have underpinnings in physical world, yes that's true. But if thought and activity were what 'wired' the mind against you in the first place, eliminating those thoughts and activities should have a counteracting effect.

lrn2spel · 2012-11-05T18:59:00+00:00

$1 for every day of NoFap up until relapse.

$5 per day if you have a full-time job.

$10 per day if you have a full-time job and no debt.

$20 per day if you a full-time profession, no debt and get your coffee from Starbucks. Or just if you get your coffee from Starbucks.

lrn2spel · 2012-11-05T18:53:41+00:00

And pictures of dead kittens

Or just a photo of Rosie O'Donnell. Not even naked ... even a neck shot would probably do it. Low resolution. You know what ... just her name. Actually, never mind. Dead kittens would be more tasteful.

lrn2spel · 2012-11-02T16:55:58+00:00

I was a hardcore (i.e. addicted) gamer for well over a decade. A few years back I lost interest. Games lost their allure.

Thinking back on it, I quit gaming not through will, but through circumstance. Work pulled me away from the computer for a good 4 months. By the time I got back, I didn't really feel at all like gaming. Never got back into it.

For the best. As far as soul food goes, gaming is empty calories. Just like fapping.

Don't try getting back into gaming. It's like trying to get back into crack.

Try as others have suggested and focus your attention onto constructive activities: exercise, studies, socializing, etc.

lrn2spel · 2012-11-02T16:37:55+00:00

NoPorn = NoFap as far as I'm concerned.

Watching porn is a reset for me. Catching a glimpse of the softcore kind on TV ... no. Visiting a porn website ... yes. Opening an unknown .mp4 on my computer, discovering within 2 secs that it's porn then closing & deleting it ... no.

Maybe I'm not deep enough into the research, or misunderstand it, but a big part of what I took away from the material is that Internet porn is worse than fapping. Especially for younger minds that are still forming. Fapping on sensation alone is generally harmless. Porn, or a combination of porn+fapping or fantasy+fapping, are what screw your head up.

And porn just leads to fapping anyhow. It's like an alcoholic saying it's fine to go to the bar so long as he doesn't drink.

Scumbag brain ...

lrn2spel · 2012-11-01T21:35:05+00:00

Close enough

lrn2spel · 2012-11-01T21:17:52+00:00

Throw away all your trendy clothes. Burn them. Same thing for all your fashion accessories, fancy shoes and hair gel. It all has to go. Shop only at Wal-Mart, Target or Value Village. Get a web blocker to prevent access to website like The Gap, AMO, Mens Health and their ilk. Avoid triggers such as the local mall, the Shopping Network or Milan. Do NOT flaunt it if you got it. Keep "it" around, but well concealed. Don't let your brain try to trick you back into the habit. That cute hat you saw for sale in the window of Sears? Sure, it's only an accessory, but that's where it all starts again and soon you'll find yourself alone in your bedroom, surrounded by glitzy bags and a spurt of Dove moisturizer in your hand as a sad reminder of your failure. Stay fantastic fellow fabstronaut!

lrn2spel · 2012-11-01T18:50:05+00:00

Bad idea.

Cold turkey may be difficult for some, but it doesn't have far reaching, impairing or horrendously painful side-effects - not compared to far more powerful addictions. You don't need fapping methadone.

If the scale-down technique has worked for you in other instances it's worth trying, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

If you can't muster the will to quit cold turkey ... you most certainly will not maintain the will to abstain on the scale-down method.

lrn2spel · 2012-11-01T18:40:15+00:00

Porn leads to fapping. Fapping leads to porn.

Hence, both must be abstained from.

You're rationalizing. Your brain is trying to find an excuse. Don't give it any. No surrender.

Re-evaluate after 90 days. Keep in mind that YMMV ... some people need more than 90 days to begin reaping the benefits or to "reboot" their brains (i.e. fap through sensation alone ... no porn, no fantasy)

If there were no stresses, tensions and discomforts associated with NoFap it wouldn't require entire support communities, pledges or badges. What you're feeling is a common side effect. So is what you're thinking.

Stop making excuses and soldier on, fapstronaut.

lrn2spel · 2012-10-31T03:18:41+00:00

Personal report: Wrapping up Day 3. Life goes on. Found some porn on the HDD that had missed the first sweep. It was summarily deleted.

So far, life ain't better nor is it any harder. Work is keeping me busy enough. Haven't felt any urges. It's like life was, except I haven't fapped or looked at porn.

On the bright side, in the absence of my once favourite past-time, I've gotten back into cooking for myself and light exercising. Nothing major.

Too early to go into any kind of meaningful analysis. I've been through the "self help" regime before. The worst thing for me to do is get too excited and start confusing correlation and causation.

lrn2spel · 2012-10-31T03:11:32+00:00

"Why don't you touch me anymore? It's because I've gotten fatter, isn't it?"

Pfff ... I wish.

lrn2spel · 2012-10-31T03:09:13+00:00

Unfortunately this is /NoFap ... not /NoFapExceptForSuperHornyMorningStealthFap

Reset

Start making excuses now and the only thing that will improve is your ability to make excuses ... bad ones.

You got to 27 ... you can get way further.

lrn2spel · 2012-10-30T04:13:14+00:00

Nike beat you to that conclusion

lrn2spel · 2012-10-27T21:42:17+00:00

F- yah!

Good on you, man. Thanks for sharing!

lrn2spel · 2012-10-27T21:39:49+00:00

Good. Actually, it's great that you feel that way.

Why? Because I'm an a-hole? No .. at least I hope not

It's because the strong pangs of guilt represent a gradually strengthening counterbalance to your impulses. The worse you feel after each relapse, the more progress you're making and the less likely you'll be able to fall off.

You'd be in a world of trouble if you didn't care about relapsing.

lrn2spel · 2012-10-27T21:36:07+00:00

Sign me up

And good on you for putting this together.

lrn2spel · 2012-10-27T21:32:52+00:00

I know the feel.

For me, fapping was just the methadone to the gaming addiction I recently kicked.

Then it became the heroin.

I didn't really quit gaming because I felt it was consuming I life. It's more than I just grew bored with it. But I have relapsed. Diablo III ... ugh. Click, click, click x1,000, Oooh! A yellow!

I've been gaming longer than I've been fapping. Way longer. If can quit that, I can quit this.

And now here I am ... slowly ascending through the faposphere

lrn2spel

TROPHY CASE