LostStudent

My goal this year is to finish a 50 mile ultra marathon and I've been working towards this goal these last few months. Prior to this, 26 miles is the longest I've ever run in one session, as this is usually the length of a standard marathon. I've been noticing during my runs that I hit a wall betwen miles 30-35. I start feeling a tingling sensation on my jaw, hearing white noise, and sometimes even my vision starts streaking/fading. Fatigue usually follows, I can push through it for a bit but my pace slows down considerably and I'm not nearly as efficient with my strides. I initially thought this had to do with nutrition so I cleaned up my diet making sure I had a hearty meal the night before, I even tried consuming gels during the runs for the added energy and to top up my glycogen stores. Perhaps it will take my body longer to get used to running these distances. I'm curious if anyone has ever experienced anything like this?

@Something Funny I've tried taking electrolyte drinks/tablets before and during my runs but I've never gotten any blood tests or anything like that to actually measure my electrolyte levels. I do find it helps a bit but I still experience this issue.

@Leo Gura I guess it's not necessary. I run regular marathons without any issue so I just wanted to challenge myself. I've met people who run 100 mile ultra marathons and this made me believe that running 50 miles is more than possible for me. Perhaps I'm naive and this is my limit.

I see a good amount of posts about no fap on here and I also have a few friends who are doing this so I'd like expand my knowledge on this subject. My understanding is that porn addiction and masturbating too frequently can lead to loss of energy/motivation and low self esteem. If you're doing no fap, would you say this is accurate? How long until you felt the benefits of no fap? Does no fap mean no sex too? Most content I've read seem to be targeted towards men but I'm curious if there are any benefits for women. I don't watch porn at all but I do masturbate 2-3 times a day depending on how much free time I have. This number seems quite high when I compare with my friends. I've never noticed any negative effects but it's possible I'm just unaware of them because I've been doing this for so long. I'm interested in giving this a try if there are some potential benefits.

This is a great list. I'm personally a big fan of number 5.

My boyfriend works 10-12 hour days right now, we don't live together so it's hard to meet during the week. I don't know how often people crave it, but 4 days without sexual activities seems really long for me.

@A_v_E I've personally never met a guy who didn't like having their head eaten during copulation. I kid.. I see your point.

@BirdNerd Thanks for sharing your experience! This is me right now haha . I've been incredibly unproductive at work since I've stopped masturbation, I think of sex all day. Thankfully I'm working from home next week so I should have less distractions... Did you abstain from all sexual activities during the 90 days? I'd like to experience this. I don't know if I'll be able to though, since I'm only really doing no fap during the week days.

@Leo Gura Can you elaborate on this? How would this look like in practice?

@Knowledge Hoarder I don't think I'm aware enough to notice what this habit hampers because I've been doing it for so long. It's been a little over 24 hours since I last did it and I already feel quite a bit different. My mind seems much open to sexual thoughts and I notice myself more turned on when I view certain pictures/images. I have a clear schedule of masturbation during the week and sex during the weekends so I think it's possible this could lead to better sex with such a long break between. I guess only time will tell.

When is sex abused in your opinion? Does it depend on frequency?

A few of my guy friends are doing this, I also see a good amount of posts about no fap here so I thought I'd find out more and maybe give it a try. I alternate between using a toy and the shower head in my bathroom.

There's a lot of good information in this thread. I wasn't aware of a lot this stuff prior to this thread. Thanks guys and gals! I've decided to try no fap. I usually masturbate twice a day during the week, this gets replaced by regular sex during the weekends when I sleep over at my boyfriend's place or he stays at mine. I plan to cut masturbation out entirely for the time being. I feel like it's cruel on some level to deprive my boyfriend of sex so I'm going to leave sex on the table for now. I don't have any expectations on benefits so I'll just see how it goes I guess. I think one of the struggles will be falling asleep at night. I didn't masturbate last night and I had a tough time falling asleep. Masturbation is a great way for me to relax before bed, I'll definitely need to find another activity to unwind before bedtime or I'll relapse quick haha. Another thing that I've noticed today is that my mind seems much more open to sexual thoughts. I have to redirect my attention to other things or I end up feeling horny at work which is feels a bit awkward. I'm hoping this changes after I get more accustomed to no fap.

@Leo Gura That's pretty funny, I never knew that's what it stands for. @bambi Sex is also sensory pleasure. Do you think you should abstain from all sexual activities if your goal is to maximize happiness and reaching peak states of consciousness?

@Pavement This is interesting, I wasn't aware of energy loss due to ejaculation. I experience a significant loss of energy after sex, depending on how well rested I am and how long it lasts. This doesn't seem to be the case when I masturbate though.

@Raze Vynce made some good points about dopamine depravation in his post that seem to make sense to me. Do you masturbate without watching porn? Aren't you imagining porn in your mind if you do this?

@Vynce Thanks, this is a great explanation.

@Vynce Does no fap mean to abstain from all sexual activities or just maturation? The name suggests the latter but I just want to make sure. I'm currently in a relationship so no sex would be a bit harder.

@Tudo I see. I don't think I've ever taken a break longer than a week or two so I'd still like to give it a try, just to see what it's like. The most intriguing part of no fap that I've read has to do with energy benefits. I find myself a little tired sometimes, even with a full night's rest, I'd like to see if that has any correlation to maturation.

The last few weeks have been very pleasant. I've kept myself busy with the gym, yoga, meditation, cooking, hanging out with my friends, and I've even had the time to meet a some new people. I think what I'm craving the most is a relationship, someone I could open up to and share every aspect of my life. I've made an effort to meet new people lately and I've got a few dates lined up, I haven't been on a date for a while so I'm nervous but also excited.

I've read a few journals by others here and I can see some value in having one. I'm not in a very good place mentally right and I've been feeling really depressed these past few months. I think having a place where I can record and reflect on my thoughts and feelings can do me some good. Maybe someday I'll look back at this journal and laugh because I'll be in a much better place. I'm not too sure how often I'll post on here but I'm aiming for a few times a week. If you're reading this please feel free to comment and add your perspective to my thoughts! I woke up at around 7 AM today and the first thing I did was facetime with my sister who's living out of the country at the moment so I started the day feeling quite lonely. After that I did some cardio on my treadmill for around 45 minutes and followed that up with some breakfast, that made me feel a little better but that feeling didn't really last too long. I didn't have much planned today besides grocery shopping and some household chores so it was a pretty uneventful day. I finished grocery shopping and my chores before noon so I spent the rest of my afternoon browsing this website and reading. After I finished dinner my friend called me and we had a pretty lengthy chat about life and her plans for the future. We've been friends for a long time but I really wonder what value she finds in our friendship. She seems like she has her life together and meanwhile mine is a trainwreck haha. I'm really envious of her but I'm glad to have her as a friend because it gives me a glimpse into what it's like to be happy. I've noticed lately that when it starts getting dark outside I start getting anxious and depressed, everything just feels heavy. Is this a common thing? I usually only drink a glass of wine or something like that when I'm at a restauarant but lately I've been drinking more when I'm alone, I find it helps calm my nerves. I like this feeling because it helps me relax and things slow down a bit. I just need to be more mindful of how much I drink because I think I've had enough to consider myself drunk tonight. It's taken me a rediculous amount of time to write this whole thing out and I'm pretty sure I don't normally type this slow haha. I realize that it's probably not the best idea to treat my mood with alcohol but for now it's kind of a band-aid fix. I will have to deal with all my issues at some point but I just don't know where to start and I feel like I don't have the energy. I recently discovered discovered this website and the youtube channel so I'm hoping the content on here will be insightful and provide me with different perspectives. My head is spinning a bit and I want to lie down so I think I'll end it here. Good night!

I enjoy art and nature so I'm probably going to visit a bunch of art galleries and spend a considerable time in nature. I think visiting holy sites and monasteries could be a cool experience so I may do that too. I want to spend time interacting with people of different cultures but I don't know what the best way to do this is.

Yeah I agree. I don't have a time frame in mind yet, I don't want to limit how long I can stay in a place if I'm really enjoying my time there. I haven't done much research yet but I'm definitely going to visit Asia for part of my trip, I've never been to Asia and I think it would be a nice culture shock. I'll visit China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and India for sure. I think getting one way tickets to each country would be a flexible way to explore without any time constraints. Where do you want to travel to?

I don't think this is limited to women in their 30s or 40s. I'm in my early 20s and I've felt anxiety, frustration, and jealousy when I see friends in committed long-term relationships.

I don't really have any immediate plans, I'm going to spend a significant amount of time traveling once everything opens up, I hoping something will change when I get out of my comfort zone. Success would be finding higher purpose in my life, I wouldn't necessarily need to profit off this.