Mine is porn addiction. I don’t ever want to become a coomer but I think I’ve became that already a few times in my life. I shamefully have watched porn, saved porn images and visualized people who’re probably not as into porn as I was.
I really do wish to be done with porn, it’s done nothing for me. I’ve masturbated for many years and I feel like it has hollowed out my mind. I don’t even get that much enjoyment from masturbating as much and the porn hasn’t really gotten any better so I guess I can say that I’ve seen porn when it was at its best when I was younger and everything.
Now all of it is just loli shit, artificial shit and that’s gross or the fetishes have gotten too niche and unappealing. I look around me in porn communities and I haven’t found anyone worthwhile to speak to or associate with. Everyone is six feet under in porn that there’s no way for them out.
Social media. I kicked out all the “algorithmic” stuff 6 years ago. Still find myself spending hours each day refreshing RSS feeds looking for a cheap dopamine hit.
Using the phone in bed. Before going to sleep. Immediately after waking up.
I do that as well but for some reason it doesn’t have detrimental effects on me.
I often hit myself on the nose with the phone because I fall asleep. In the morning, it helps get my brain gearing into motion.
Housing. This addiction is crippling me. I’m spending thousands on it every month.
I don’t consider myself a gooner or coomer or whatever, but there are days where I really feel like a fucking waste of a person due to how much I beat it. Sometimes I’m doing something else, but if I’m not focused, sometimes horny will just happen and that gets focus quite easily.
I know the best way for me to get rid of that is to block sites via
hostsfile, as it’s a slight annoyance to edit it in Windows (gotta open notepad as admin, then make it openc:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts), which is already enough to make me give up and do something else. I have added a bunch, but there are many that aren’t blocked and it’s so damn easy to find them…My silver lining is that I don’t use the phone for porn, so I only need to step away from my computer to avoid porn altogether, but the PC is my main addiction that I’m not even trying to break.
Food. I’m a fat ass. :/
It’s really awful because unlike smoking or cocaine or anything else, you can’t just quit food. You need it to live, without it, you will die. Having too much of it permanently alters your hunger levels which makes you require more of it, it’s an endless feedback loop that scientists haven’t figured out yet.
It does seem like they might be making some progress on it with weight loss medicine, if it doesn’t outright cause cancer or other bad side effects. I guess we’ll see.
I’ve slowly dropped 100 pounds over the last 3 years (50 more to go) and I literally eat whatever I want. The secret is in moderation, which is the real problem with food. It is VERY easy to overeat. I live by 3 simple and easy rules:
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Stop all sugary drinks, or juices. As a doctor said to me: Don’t get your calories from juice, eat the whole orange. And NEVER drink full sugar soda. Today, I drink Coke Zero Sugar (0 calories) when I’m in a fast food place, but other than that, it’s only unsweetened Ice Tea, or my favorite beverage Ice Water. I have also been drinking those fruit flavored seltzer waters with 0 calories. My only real beverage indulgence is a single beer with dinner 3 or 4 nights a week. Cultivate a love for Ice Water.
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Eat only when you are hungry, and only until you aren’t hungry any more. I have found that I really don’t need a whole sandwich, I am satisfied after a half of a sandwich. I’m generally satisfied with a couple of small handfuls of chips, I don’t need to eat the entire bag. It takes a period of close monitoring to reset your satisfaction levels, but once you do, you are living a new food lifestyle that feels normal. It now feels strange to eat an entire sandwich. Or have a favorite food binge until you are stuffed.
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Don’t eat out of boredom, find another activity. This is a really important one. If you find yourself staring into the fridge for a snack, and having trouble deciding, you’re not really hungry, you’re eating out of boredom. My Dad quit smoking by picking up a Rubik’s Cube whenever he got the urge, and it worked well because a big part of smoking are the hand-mouth habits that you develop. Quitters often say that those hand-mouth habits last long after the nicotine cravings have left.
Food shares that trait. Creating a late night mini-charcuterie tray, spreading cheese on a cracker, washing it down with a beer or wine, etc. are all hand-mouth activities that can become regular habits that help load in tons of useless calories just before bed.
I used the guitar as my distraction. I keep an acoustic next to my TV chair, and pick it up whenever I have a craving for food. It distracts me from my momentary craving, and I’ve advanced to an intermediate ability on the guitar.
Replacing one negative endorphin releasing activity with a positive endorphin activity is highly effective at changing habitual behavior. Exchange a bad habit for a good one. Learn a language, write a book, play a game, play with a pet, lift weights, do a Rubik’s Cube, etc. whatever works for you.
Losing weight always requires a lifestyle change, and most people choose a temporary strict diet to do it, but it never works. The lifestyle change needs to be permanent, but nobody wants to go full keto, and never eat pizza or chocolate chip cookies ever again for the rest of their lives. It is nearly inevitable that anyone will fail that sort of diet.
Since you are committing to a lifestyle change, make it simple and effective, allows you the opportunity for guilt-free indulgence, and make it PERMANENT. Want some chocolate? Don’t eat an entire chocolate bar, eat a few chocolate chips, let them melt in your mouth and coat your tongue, and it will satisfy your chocolate cravings with a fraction of the calories.
Of course, if you want to supercharge your weight loss, start exercising, especially cardio. I have a physically intensive job, so I don’t worry about the exercise as much, but I am about to start running again, after getting the clearance from my doctor. I just got my new runners yesterday, and I’m going to add that to my efforts to lose my last 50 pounds.
Exercise could be my 4th rule, but I wanted to demonstrate that it is possible to lose a LOT of weight with a simple lifestyle change that doesn’t include exercise (although exercise is always welcome). I’ve lost 100 pounds while eating anything I want, and learned to play the guitar at the same time. That’s a food lifestyle that’s worth the effort.
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Dude this one is my vice for sure.
IKR?
I was a heavy smoker for 15 years (40+/day). Giving that up was really hard, both emotionally and physically (they don’t warn you about the physical withdrawal effects - sweats, hyperactivity, insomnia, nausea etc) and habit breaking is a bastard.
But at least with that you can stop. It’s binary, you’re either not a smoker or you are. I’ve found managing diet to be harder than that.
I think that’s easier than not over eating because you have to eat and psychologically, I’ve found that harder. Every meal feels like a little failure.
I used mounjaro this year which has helped lose 10kg, but even that’s levelled off. Am also still a fat ass.
I have tried to explain to people what is like to be hungry all the time not matter what you do. AT one point I was 265 pounds and getting bigger. I did cut out sodas and it helped me lose weight. I am to 201 now and I I do not run 3 to 5 miles 3 days a week and bike the other days the weight comes right back. I was sick all last winter and in May I was 235. I take Ozempic 2mm shots and Metformin twice a day. I measure every thing I eat. and if I break the routine one day like on Thanksgiving I pa for it for a week because the weight comes right back over a few days. The struggle I have drags me down. I would like to have a beer or a burger every now and then but any thing with carbohydrates just make the weight pile on. The food noise in my head is deafening. It is all I think about. My doctor said the Ozempic would quiet the noise but it has done nothing.
Are you on a low carb diet? If so, gained weight after consuming carbs is probably mostly water. Google glycogen storage.
Envious of the people with good metabolisms who can practically eat everything in one day and gain maybe…1 pound.
Feels like anything I eat I’m going to gain like 10 pounds despite how light it was.
it’s fast food for me and i’ve on/off the vegan wagon for the last 30is years because of layoffs.
I don’t have any answer to the “hardest addiction” thing but OP, I don’t think watching a lot of porn is inherently a problem. Sometimes people just masturbate because they’re bored, in which case you should try to get some hobbies you find more fulfilling. But if you’re masturbating because you’re horny, why not, it does no harm.
Yep, it’s good for your health in moderation. As long as it’s not taking over your life to the point where it’s interfering with your normal life, it’s perfectly healthy and nothing to be ashamed about.
Do it for your health. Ejaculation frequency and prostate cancer
The scientists found no evidence that frequent ejaculations mark an increased risk of prostate cancer. In fact, the reverse was true: High ejaculation frequency was linked to a decreased risk. Compared to men who reported 4–7 ejaculations per month across their lifetimes, men who ejaculated 21 or more times a month enjoyed a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer. And the results held up to rigorous statistical evaluation even after other lifestyle factors and the frequency of PSA testing were taken into account.
Use it or lose it.
Note that there are other ways to achieve ejaculation besides masturbating
😎
Whaaaaaaat? How?
There has been folklore in the gay community for decades that prostate issues & cancer are related to not ejaculating regulating. Interesting research.
And if you’re not a man?
This advice is for prostate-havers only. For everyone else, it’s still a sin.
Nice, I’m good to goon then.
Sugar. I’m prediabetic and this shit is everywhere. I know, medically, what I need to do: significantly cut back for 6-9 months until the insulin-resistant blood cells are replaced by normal ones, and start doing HIIT exercises to move that closer to 6 than 9.
But like, doing anything consistently for 6 months is a challenge for me, much less avoiding something that gives me the happy brain chemicals.
Bike bike bike!
Specifically, road. Put yourself aside, and just try it properly. The freedom is amazing and self motivating. The reason you don’t see many people is primarily because they don’t try road bikes and don’t understand them. People tend to prejudice the unfamiliar. The bike is optimal for human anatomy in unintuitive ways. The efficiency is amazing. The number of disabled people that ride is far higher than you likely imagine. While women are a more rare segment in cycling, the primary barrier is only self perception. Roadies are super friendly and accepting of everyone, except during a race. If you’ve got a slower metabolism like me, you will likely excel at endurance activities. The airflow keeps your body temperature lower than any exercise other than swimming. That is why I always struggled with a gym routine; getting uncomfortably hot. Committing to a ride is not like other exercise where you are able to contemplate stopping early. It takes 3 weeks to get used to a saddle, and 6 to turn actively pushing yourself into a neutral routine your body accepts. Everything after 6 weeks starts to become harder to stop than it is to continue. I was 350lbs in 2009 and under 190lbs by 2013. Even after a broken neck and back in 2014, it is still easier for me to keep my routine than it is to stop. Your sugar problems will go away in a few months time. One of the other groups of avid cyclists is celebrities. Like Robin Williams was famous for people encountering him on the road and at events. On a bike, in a kit, helmet, and sunglasses, you are totally anonymous. It does not matter how you think it will be before trying it, on a bike you assume a new identity and no one knows who you are unless you tell them. Road is the only type of bike that is like this. Every other type of bike is a compromise and totally different experience. I’ve worked with diabetic amputees, people that could not walk, and been and worked with the morbidly obese. You can do it dear!
I’m a lifelong bike commuter and trail rider. I ride a minimum of 50 miles a week. It the wrong kind of exercise for this.
But hell yeah bike! bike! bike! for its own sake!
Sorry to hear that one dear. I do not pretend to understand on some deeper level, but why can’t you fully control blood sugar by upping mileage?
I used to calorie crash often at 400+ miles a week, or even half that many miles when I was cutting weight intentionally. At 400+ I could not increase calories to compensate. I was getting into sprouted grains and micro nutrients off the bike, and maximum simple sugar and salt while riding. Three hours minimum per day, and full time+ job was fun. I haven’t legitimately hit the wall in a decade, but still have a primal dread of that feeling of no blood sugar left at all. Kinda curious in case I ever have a similar issue because 90% in bed and 5% zooming on what remains of race legs is an odd life.
Blood sugar, perhaps, but the real long-term issue is the resistant blood cells. HIIT helps wear those out faster so they’re replaced with newer, hopefully less resistant ones. Exercise like cycling where you hit a stride and your heart rate plateaus isn’t effective for that, is my understanding.
You can do HIIT exercises on a bike - more easily on a stationary trainer. People do it as a way to increase their FTP. I’ve not tried it as that kind of suffering isn’t my jam. But if you love cycling and want to do HIIT, you can
If only I could cycle in my town without fear of death from every direction
Similar for me, but the stress of it all helps burn calories, the fear like a little boost to the exercise. Poor joke.
She said ‘This was why I couldn’t get off and stay off. Just as the cliché warns. I literally wasn’t keeping it in the day. I was adding the clean days up in my head.’ She cocked her head at him. ‘Did you ever hear of this fellow Evel Knievel? This motorcycle-jumper?’
Gately nods slightly, being careful of a tube he now feels. This is why his throat had had that raped feeling in it. The tube. He actually has an old cutout action picture of the historical Evel Knievel, from an old Life magazine, in a white leather Elvisish suit, in the air, aloft, haloed in spotlights, upright on a bike, a row of well-waxed trucks below.
‘At St. Collie only the Crocodiles’d heard of him. My own Daddy’d followed him, cut out pictures, as a boy.’ Gately can tell she’s smiling under there. ‘But what I used to do, I’d throw away the pipe and shake my fist at the sky and say As God is my fucking witness NEVER AGAIN, as of this minute right here I QUIT FOR ALL TIME.’ She also has this habit of absently patting the top of her head when she talks, where little barrettes and spongy clamps hold the veil in place. ‘And I’d bunker up all white-knuckled and stay straight. And count the days. I was proud of each day I stayed off. Each day seemed evidence of something, and I counted them. I’d add them up. Line them up end to end. You know?’ Gately knows very well but doesn’t nod, lets her do this on just her own steam. She says ‘And soon it would get… improbable. As if each day was a car Knievel had to clear. One car, two cars. By the time I’d get up to say like maybe about 14 cars, it would begin to seem like this staggering number. Jumping over 14 cars. And the rest of the year, looking ahead, hundreds and hundreds of cars, me in the air trying to clear them.’ She left her head alone and cocked it. ‘Who could do it? How did I ever think anyone could do it that way?’
-Infinite Jest
haha damn looks like I’m about to read just that part tonight, what a coincidence. skipping to not get it spoilered. but then again the whole book is just one long rant against the struggle, in the end. glad i finally got through it though - only took ten years
There are now, fortunately, plenty of low carb, low glycemic products that are a lifesaver when you have cravings. 5 years ago navigating the world without sugar was a nightmare but these days it’s much easier. You can’t really go out to eat, people will get offended when you turn down food they’ve offered, but you can do it.
There are now, fortunately, plenty of low carb, low glycemic products that are a lifesaver when you have cravings.
What products are you thinking about?
Kind of depends on what you’re looking for. Most of this is going to be based on my own experience, your mileage may very. I managed to reverse my own metabolic disorder with this stuff. It’s worth noting that you don’t need to be 0 carb. You need to be dramatically lower carb than most people are typically eating. If you get less than 100 carbs a day you’re doing pretty well. Anything less than 50 is pretty dramatic and you’ll need to eat a LOT of green veggies to give your brain some fuel. I did that for a few years and had no issues but it’s not a great place to start.
If you’re in to baking there’s a huge community of low carb content creators and substitutes for traditional products. Allulose, Erythritol, xylitol, and monk fruit are all available in various forms as sugar substitutes. I find that a blend of almond and coconut flour gets you close on recipes that don’t need much gluten. Note that xylitol breaks down at high temperatures and is better as a sweetener for things that are cold.
If you just want a fuckin candy bar, Think brand has a few options that are marketed as being Keto. Which may or may not be bullshit, keto and low carb are related but not necessarily the same. It did however, not have much glycemic impact.
La tortilla factory has decent low carb tortillas that are the lowest impact. Mission makes better tortillas that are low carb, but not as low carb. By all accounts however the mission low carb tortillas are fine for people who actively monitor their blood glucose.
I use Isopure zero carb protein powder and make protein shakes that are indistinguishable from a milkshake.
I think Justin’s peanut butter only has peanuts and oil as ingredients. No added sugar.
I’ve found that a blend of soy sauce, rice vinegar, gochujang, sesame oil and a few cloves of chopped garlic gets you pretty close to a traditional “Chinese” style sauce. If you’re desperate for Chinese food. If it’s not sweet enough you can add a little artificial sweetener listed above.
I’m sure I could go on. If there’s a specific low carb thing you’re looking for I might have a recommendation. Unless it’s bread. Get used to using tortillas if you need bread. There is no good low carb bread. It can’t be done.
I’ve been living low carb for 5+ years now. I lost 100ish pounds in about 18 months. I’ve maintained that weight, plus a few holiday pounds, for the remainder of that time. I have slowly reintroduced some carbs and haven’t seen a return of metabolic syndrome yet.
going off caffeine is fucking me up
going off caffeine
No
is fucking me up
If youre not hurting other people I think youre doing a great job.
…what
Nicotine. Started as a kid, 25y ago. Smoked for about 18y, then switched to vaping when it was new. Started lowering my mg over the last few years, until I hit 0mg late last year, then put that down. Of course, stress doesn’t want to let me fully stop and I’ve learned that after all that time I can’t lean on just one cessation aid. But a combo of patch+inhaler+the right company have mad it easier to not think about as much. Hopefully I can keep that trend going 🤞
I’m 10 years without a smoke-
I still want one every time I have a beer at the bar or a morning coffee.
“It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times.” Mark Twain
Good luck friend, I had a very similar progression and after decades of addiction, I am now over 2 years without any nicotine of any kind. You can do it.
Just quit nicotine again for the 3rd total time. Sucks a lot. And I feel like the nicotine pouches are significantly more addictive than cigarettes or tobacco ever were.
My secret this time was nicotine lozenges. They taste so terrible that it even overcame the positive association I have with nicotine. Good luck out there!
Never heard of this but are they deliberately made to taste bad? Seems like a clever idea. The nicotine is there if you need it but the terrible taste puts you off.
That said, cigarettes smell awful to me and people keep going so I can’t imagine how bad they would have to taste.
I don’t think they are supposed to taste bad. They are just an alternative to nicotine gum. You can get them at pharmacies. I don’t like the gum because it’s bright yellow and leaves little stains in my teeth so I got the lozenges this time instead.
They do taste absolutely terrible though. And yeah, cigarettes smell awful but for whatever reason, I like the taste of them. I quit those a long time ago specifically for the bad smell though.
I wish I could stop chewing my stupid fingernails
Umm, I may accidentally changed that by staying for like 12hours outside with a mask on and when I’d go home I’d be tired and would sleep soon after. Did it for like a month?
Or was it another change at this time, not sure
I’m a snack as well
Everytime I manage to not bite my nails down and have actual nails, something stressful happens. Every. Single. Time.
Same, goddamn.
My nails are long, looking nice, I feel good, boom, some bullshit happens that has me so on the edge of my seat that by the time I realize I’m doing it again my nails are already ruined 🤦🤦🤦
This was a tough one for me. One thing that helped was always having nail clippers and a file at my desk at home and work. Any time I felt the urge to bite a nail I would use the clippers and file instead. Over time I have been able to taper down the biting quite a lot and now I’m to the point where I can grow my nails out. The ring fingers are by far the toughest to quit as they’re the most satisfying ones to bite. ADHD medication also helped.
I like the term tapering! It gives it like a therapeutic feeling, sounds I need to order a file and some clippers.
ADHD 🤝 ASD
For me: a big component of it is a sensory thing. My brain does NOT like it when I can feel roughness on my fingers or hands. The best I’ve been able to do is just keep a bunch of good glass nail files around the house and in the bags I use and travel with, as well as some cuticle trimmers. That way I just trim and buff things out until my brain is like “mmmm yes this is fine, carry on”, and it’s way less of a compulsion.
But stress also often triggers it for me, and that’s harder to buff out :(
That’s a great idea! I might pick up a file of my own
I didn’t chew them, but I used to pick them with my fingernails. Painting them helped because then I would ruin it if I picked at them. Also fiddling with something else helps to occupy my hands.
Hell yeah, sounds like an excuse to paint my nails, I wonder if someone makes polish with like chilli pepper or that stuff they put on video games to stop me from eating them
They do make that, but I’ve never met a nail biter who was actually deterred by it. But it could still help to bring the nail biting into focus, so you don’t accidently “mindlessly” chew
I’ve got issues with this as well, not for how my nails look. I’m a guy and work with nasty stuffs in my spare time so I regularly have black edges. But I can’t stop myself during boring meetings, I need the stimulation to keep myself focused, which I’m kinda ok with but I end up with my pocket full of pieces of fingernail and the idea that some people find that gross…which causes stress, which causes me to pick at my fingernails more…
Phone
Weed. I kicked weed about 6 years ago and alcohol about 2, but relapsed recently and can’t seem to stop. It’s driving me insane, and my mental health is in the gutter. Hoping I can quit again before the new year.
Give yourself time to try again. Think about how long you smoked and drank before you quit the first time. I know you want to sprint to the finish line but you gotta stretch first.
If being hard on yourself worked, it would have worked by now. Besides, being hard on you is everyone else’s job. They dont need the help.
My life got so much better kicking weed. I always knew it was bringing me down, but I never quite realized just how much. Add all the restrictions for jobs to it and it’s just a cocktail for depression.
I’ve come to grips with, “it fits for some, not for me.”
Yeah I came to terms with that years ago, unfortunately addiction is a crafty bitch. Congrats on you for kicking the habit 💪
Broski, you got this!
Smoking. Quit for seven years and picked it back up. Worst decision of my life. Was cutting back on vaping to quit when the pan happened. Allowed myself the vice for stress. Don’t plan on trying a third time. Too much effort.
Gets better as you age and your dick doesnt run your life.
Cigarettes
