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NannerZ

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14 hours ago, NannerZ said:

Sure. I was intentionally being vague when I wrote this because I didn't feel comfortable sharing certain aspects of my struggles. After reflection, I feel comfortable enough sharing some of what went wrong. I never really wrote down anywhere what my priorities are (or were) so I'll try to share them now.

- Get to a better / healthier place with my mental health.

- Improve my physical health by losing all the excess weight (approx 30lbs now)

- Drastically alter my diet from one extremely high in carbs, fat, calories, and sugar, to one based more on natural foods.

- Improve my social skills / game. Grow my social circle and make some new friends at work (which I started only 2 months ago) or elsewhere.

Doing all of those things would help me with some of the self worth, self esteem, and confidence issues I've dealt with for many years. And ultimately..

- Start dating quality women.

How did they fall apart? I got the priorities mixed up. I mentioned improving my social game was important to me. When I started this job I told myself I would try very hard to talk to anyone I could at work, especially girls. It's actually been a resounding success tbh. I've been more social these past 2 months than like the previous 6 combined probably. Anyway, I've made a lot of progress with different girls but I'm still terrible at reading them or understanding them. There was this one girl who I thought was into me and.. long story short, she probably was just being nice. I made the stupid mistake of believing kindness equals interest. Nothing embarrassing happened or anything but it was just kind of a reality check that hurt a little. I tried to put the girl stuff ahead of everything else and the house of cards blew over. It was a week where I just couldn't get anything going. Missed all my gym sessions, ate a bunch of crappy food, emotions were a mess. My priorities were not in order.

How can I prevent this from happening again? Well I learned from the mistake I made most importantly. But I've gone ahead and begun to schedule my week using google calendar. Things tend to get done when you give them a time and place to exist in your life. I've written about this in more detail in my post below. Girls have kind of always been my weakness but I think I've created a structure that works for me and can allow me some flexibility.  Hope that answered your question, lemme know if you'd like to know more. I tried to be as forthcoming as possible without sharing anything I wasn't comfortable with. Thanks for reading!

 

Cravings for games? It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be tbh. Make sure everything gaming wise is out of sight, it can't be a part of your environment. My roommate always leaves junk food on our kitchen table and guess what happens? I see it when I come down to the kitchen because I'm hungry and I eat it. So I had to get him to keep that stuff in his room. Same concept with games. Increase the distance between you and the games. Sometimes I think of installing a game but somewhere between downloading and installing the shame kicks in and I realize I'm about to relapse. I plan to play again casually some day but I'm just not ready yet, I have so much to take care of in my life first. Priorities.

Cravings for fap? Definitely harder than games for myself personally. The first 20-25 ish days are the worst. Boredom was always a trigger for me, and these days while I'm not gaming I do experience periods of boredom where the cravings can come and be intense. Again, I suggest to delete whatever you have and block access to porn if possible. My streak has reached a point where the streak is more important to me than giving in to what I know is just old programming in my brain. Educating myself on the no fap movement has helped me personally as well. When you realize you're basically no better than a lab rat hitting the lever over and over so he can get his dopamine hit, you feel kinda disgusted with yourself.

Hope that helps man. I'm on day 38 now which felt impossible 38 days ago but it gets easier. And it feels good not to be a slave to it anymore.

Thanks for sharing. The awkward moment at work happens to all of us. My strong advice is to never date at work. You never know if they'll say something behind your back, rumors spread, they try to get you in trouble with human resources, etc. Plus, you never know if your coworker is an impulsive and immature moron. It could create lots of office drama that poorly affects your work. 

Based off of experience, even if she asks you out on a date, don't do it. It's tempting because you are lonely, but the mental stress from it is crippling sometimes and can create a great deal of anxiety. 

You're not a fool for putting love first. The reason humans are alive is to reproduce and create more humans. Technically your priorities are good lol. All of us on this website are struggling with new goals because they're new, hard, and challenge our former beliefs in life. 

Take a deep breath and try to appreciate all of the effort you've put into yourself and your goals. Find some activites to take your mind of them as well. I've been trying to fix myself less and schedule more activites to bolster the change I wanted to make. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/13/2019 at 1:58 PM, BooksandTrees said:

Thanks for sharing. The awkward moment at work happens to all of us. My strong advice is to never date at work. You never know if they'll say something behind your back, rumors spread, they try to get you in trouble with human resources, etc. Plus, you never know if your coworker is an impulsive and immature moron. It could create lots of office drama that poorly affects your work. 

Based off of experience, even if she asks you out on a date, don't do it. It's tempting because you are lonely, but the mental stress from it is crippling sometimes and can create a great deal of anxiety. 

You're not a fool for putting love first. The reason humans are alive is to reproduce and create more humans. Technically your priorities are good lol. All of us on this website are struggling with new goals because they're new, hard, and challenge our former beliefs in life. 

Take a deep breath and try to appreciate all of the effort you've put into yourself and your goals. Find some activites to take your mind of them as well. I've been trying to fix myself less and schedule more activites to bolster the change I wanted to make. 

thanks for the advice. I think you are right about dating at work. I think because it's my main social outlet right now and the only way I meet new people its probably natural that I'm feeling this way. I want to try to meet girls in another way but I don't know if I'm ready for it yet, rejection sucks a bunch. Thanks again !

Day 108, Aug 21

Wow I haven't posted in a while. I didn't realize it had been this long, it was mostly on purpose but also a bit of laziness in there. So I followed my goals from my last post for a few days before life got too busy again and things began to revert back and I failed again. Sigh. I'm pretty frustrated, I just feel like I can never stick to my goals and something always gets in the way. That being said, today was probably my best day in about a week and I feel good about getting back on track. I just need to generate a bit of momentum and I can really start to perform at the level I want to be. Newton's 1st law states an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. I know this is true because I experienced it already during my detox back in the first 40ish days where I was just crushing it with productivity.

Anyway, I'll try to be brief today. I think I'm at an important phase now and I know what I need to do. I just need to fucking do it. Btw, I'm still killing it with no fap, setting a new record every day that goes by now. Honestly, most days its effortless. I think I may actually be able to pull off 100+ days. Did I just curse myself?

100 pushups a day counter 38

no fap: 47 days

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Day 109, Aug 22

Today was a pretty good day and I'm happy with the way I handled it. Found time to cook healthy meals, work, and hit the gym for a cardio sesh, all while being sick. Being able to say I'm actually proud of my day instead of feeling shame is actually pretty great. The best part of today was I got to talk to this super quiet / shy girl that I've never seen talk to anyone before for like 15 minutes on my break at work today. I've wanted to talk to her for weeks, felt awesome to finally break the ice. It went really well too. Legit pumped right now.

Anyway, I'm going to ride this good feeling into tomorrow and have another good day so I can build that momentum I was talking about yesterday. Then I can start killing it again. Go me!

100 pushups a day counter 38

no fap: 48 days

 

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Day 110 , Aug 23

Yesss, I think I've finally begun to generate some momentum again! It was another good day today. I ate good, worked a shift, got another short cardio workout in, and visited my mom for dinner. I scheduled workouts for my next 3 days directly after work. This way I'll go straight to the gym and it'll make everything much easier to do and allows for minimal interference. Small steps but I'm really happy with my last few days. The best part of today though was I got to talk to that girl at work again today for another 10 mins or so and it went super well. Conversation was flowing and fun, got her to smile multiple times. I felt awesome for hours afterwards haha. I'm so lame. Whatever, I'm happy. ?

I'm almost over being sick also. Another day or two and I think I'll be back to a clean bill of health.

100 pushups a day counter: 38

no fap: 49 days

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11 hours ago, BrassWolf said:

That's awesome dude! And you got them to smile while you were sick?! Imagine how much you'll be able to get them to smile when you have the clean bill of health!

Gosh, I hope so!

Day 111, Aug 24

Today was an eventful day. Got called into work a bit early today so that threw things off in the morning a bit. Went straight from work to the gym like I planned. I did cardio and my first bicep workout in a few weeks. I can tell I lost some strength since last time I lifted. Went home, cooked dinner, and had to hang out with a friend unexpectedly when they called late asking about going for a walk. I probably should have just said no but now I can say no next time. I've now hit the gym 3 days in a row.. yessss! Momentum!! I know I'll be able to go the next two days as well, because it fits into my day nicely right after my work shifts. If I can incorporate a few more good habits over the next week or so, I'll be back to performing at a high level again and can be proud of myself. I wonder how much of a factor the buzz I'm getting from Colleen is helping? Whatever, haha. I'm such a sheep. :262_sheep:

Btw, today marked fifty (50!!) days of no fap. After nearly two decades of being addicted to PMO, I've now reached a point where it's almost effortless. The thought of breaking this streak for a few moments of pleasure seems like a poor decision I would immediately regret, and be mad at myself about for a long time. I know some day I will break the streak and that's okay but for now I'm going to take this as far as I can. I think it's helping me stay focused on my goals.

Onward!

100 pushups a day counter: 38

no fap: 50 days

 

 

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Day 112, Aug 25

I'm almost over my cold, I think tomorrow I'll be 95% or so. Was a very busy day at work today but it went by at a nice pace. I went from work directly to my mom's place since I usually visit her for lunch/dinner on sunday. The plan was to hit the gym after that but I think I got the order backwards because after eating a huge plate of pasta the last thing I felt like doing was sweating on the eliptical machine and lifting weights. So I skipped it today. But I made up for it by just planning my whole week's schedule and meal plan.

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The past few days I've managed to steer this ship back on course and I'm feeling good about the future again. The plan is to make this week my best health week of the entire detox. It's ambitious but if I take everything I've learned so far and create a system and a structure for success, I think I can reach all of my goals. I want to become a better me and I know living this way will lead me towards that goal. Let's gooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!111111 :337_fire:

100 pushups a day counter: 38

no fap: 51 days

 

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9 hours ago, Ikar said:

What is this magical place that demands you work only 25 hours a week? ?

Keep up the momentum!

Thanks! Haha yeah, I took off the weekend this week so hours are a bit lower than usual. I don't work full time but I'm usually in the 30 hour range somewhere. I have a side hobby I do to make some extra cash.

Day 113, Aug 26

Today was a pretty good day. I managed to have a couple healthy meals and avoided temptation multiple times. I worked a morning shift which I don't do too often but I went straight from work (like I planned) to the gym where I did a solid chest and back routine, combined with 30 mins on the eliptical for cardio. Also managed to do my push ups again for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Went home, cooked myself a healthy dinner, did my work's fantasy football league draft (which I clearly won), and went for a 40+ minute walk with a friend. Basically, killed it. The best part is I'm going to do even better tomorrow. I'm trying to stay grounded and not get carried away but I'm really excited and happy with the way things have been going for about a week now. With football season only 1 and a half weeks away, gaming is the furthest thing from my mind. It should be no problem at all to reach a 6+ month streak. I simply don't want to game anymore, I want to grow as a person, and become the man I've always wanted to be, and gaming won't get me there.

100 pushups a day counter: 39

no fap: 52 days

 

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On 8/26/2019 at 8:49 PM, NannerZ said:

With football season only 1 and a half weeks away, gaming is the furthest thing from my mind. It should be no problem at all to reach a 6+ month streak. I simply don't want to game anymore, I want to grow as a person, and become the man I've always wanted to be, and gaming won't get me there.

 

Just wanna say good work man! I've been following your journal here and there and wanted to say its truly inspiring! I'm hoping to hit that 90 day mark and go beyond it myself honestly. Just wanted to ask how you feel after being 113 days gaming free?

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Day 119, Sept 1

I got busy last week and couldn't keep up with my journal. It was a decent week, it had it's good parts and it's not so good parts. I had a mega cheat day yesterday at my friends place for our big group fantasy football draft. It was such a good time and I crushed it (obvs). But anyway, all that's behind me now and the calendar has changed to September (that was fast!),  I'm ready to have my best month ever. Seriously though, I've had some good days, some good weeks even but I still haven't lived up to the standards I want to hold myself to. I will make September my best month ever. I will put my health first, both mentally and physically. I will be disciplined, and structured. I will succeed. No more excuses, it's time to get to work.

I made really good progress with Colleen too. We had some really good conversations this week. Been a long time since I've been this into a girl. Unfortunately, she's on vacation for almost two months now so I won't see her for awhile. I didn't have the courage to ask to hangout or for the number. It felt too early. It felt like if I went for it now, she would think all our convo's were 'fake' , and honestly, maybe I was afraid she would say no. While it does suck that I won't see her for awhile, it presents an opportunity to really surprise her when she comes back. 50+ days of hard work can make a huge difference, and I'm going to use it as motivation.

But it's not just Colleen. There are others in play too. My game has a long way to go but it's stronger now than it's been in 4+ years easily. I've upped my wardrobe game, hair game, styling game, social game. I go out of my way to talk to girls now. It's been a real help to my mental health just knowing that I can actually attract women I'm interested in.

120 - 150 days ago I was so depressed I actually cried a few times. I saw no end to my shitty unfulfilling life in sight. When I started the detox and began to view myself as an addict, the healing process began for me. I'm still not living the life I want to but I can actually envision a path to get there now. It's actually possible now to achieve a life that provides real fulfillment and happiness. I'm in such a better place today, and I'm really proud of myself for all my hard work so far.

Tomorrow is a big day. It's time to set the tone for the month. I'm ready.

100 pushups a day counter: 39

no fap: 58 days

 

 

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38 minutes ago, RB1 said:

Just wanna say good work man! I've been following your journal here and there and wanted to say its truly inspiring! I'm hoping to hit that 90 day mark and go beyond it myself honestly. Just wanted to ask how you feel after being 113 days gaming free?

Thank you so much. You can absolutely do it! I was hopelessly addicted to gaming for 20 years, never thought I could stop.

I feel really good. My life in the months leading up to beginning my detox on May 6th was possibly the lowest I've ever been. I remember there were some dark days. But in the darkness I found Cam's videos and the GQ's community. I'm soo soo much better today. My biggest area of improvement is probably my mental health. I feel like that life I thought I could never have is actually attainable now. I learn new things about myself and the world around me everyday. It feels good to level up in real life for a change.

I hope all is well with you. Here to talk / help whenever if you like. Good luck on your journey.

 

 

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Day 120, Sept 2

Today was a really good day, a great way to start what I'm planning on being my best ever month. Ate clean all day, did a short workout at the gym, walked for 60 minutes, and did 60 push ups. Planned my day for tomorrow, including my meals, and a short workout after my shift at work.

I think the key to my continued success is going to be planning and scheduling. I need to know what I'm doing tomorrow, today. Because I don't always work the same hours I need to think about things like: How many meals am I planning on eating? Approx what time will I eat them? What will I eat? When does the gym best fit into my schedule this week? What errands do I need to do this week, and when is the optimal time to do them? Etc. Google Calendar has been super useful, I thought it would be one of those things I'd use for like a week and then never touch again but I've been using it on a daily basis for well over a month now. The convenience of being able to use it on multiple devices makes it great for being on the go.

Anyway, happy with my day, just need to have like 50 more of these and I'll be living the dream.

100 pushups a day counter: 39

no fap: 59 days

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Day 121, Sept 3

Another really good day health wise. Started with a clean breakfast. Then I packed a healthy lunch and snacks with me to work. I went straight from work to the gym for a very quick cardio workout and to build the habit of showing up. Kind of a boring day otherwise but I definitely met and exceeded my goals for the day and am looking forward to doing it again tomorrow.

Today also marked 60 days of no fap. Insane. While occasionally I do get cravings for it,  there honestly hasn't even been a close call. My streak is more important to me than giving in, and honestly I would be pretty upset with myself. Next step is to hit 90 days!

100 push ups a day counter: 39

no fap: 60 days

 

 

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  • 2 years later...

Well, I'm back.

The last time I updated this journal was 30 months ago. Covid started a few months after I stopped journaling, coincidence?

This journal helped me lose 40 pounds (I've gained about 25 back), get a job after being so depressed I couldn't work, become more confident, learn about myself, grow as a man, discover new hobbies and interests, and most of all helped me learn my own potential. Hell, I was even reading complete strangers journals and commenting on them, wild stuff.

A lot has changed in 30 months. Some good, some bad. A lot of the same.

I barely game these days. When I first started this journal gaming was the primary destructive habit in my life, and I knew I had to do something about it. I'm not saying I'll never have gaming problems again, but I haven't gamed problematically (that I can remember) since I began this journey 30+ months ago. I do still game but it's absolutely on my own terms and I'm comfortable continuing this way for the time being.

So why have I decided to start journaling again? I have been stuck in the mud in my life for well over a year. I can't seem to accomplish goals I've had for over 18 months, I can't stay focused. I'm rudderless and I'm drifting through life without direction or purpose. As the weather outside warms up and I can begin to reclaim some freedom with pandemic restrictions (in my area) finally being nearly extinguished, I find myself with new found inspiration to get my life back on track.

When I try to think of why I was so successful at achieving my goals when I first starting journaling here versus why I haven't been able to find any sustained success in the last 18 months, I'm led to believe it is a combination of being able to pour out all my thoughts / goals / struggles / dreams / desires on here,  which allows me to work through what's holding me back and what I can do better to succeed. As well as an excellent accountability habit. When I put these thoughts out into the world I accept that others may read them and perhaps relate to me in some small way. When the only person who is held accountable for my actions is myself, I will lie to myself. I will tell myself whatever bullshit lie I want to hear to justify whatever short term fix I need in that moment. I found that when I wrote my goals clearly here for all to see, I simply did a better job at making them a reality.

I have a few goals in mind that I will begin tracking tomorrow and I may add more as the momentum will inevitably kick in. Here they are:

1) Begin the #100DaysofCode challenge tomorrow. I want to become employed as a junior python programmer by the end of 2022 or by June 2023. I will give myself a very generous window of Oct 2022 to June 2023 to find my first job in the field.

2) Begin a 100 days of Intermittent fasting challenge tomorrow. Shortly after I stopped journaling was when my weight loss truly took off. I discovered the awesome power of IF combined with a low carb diet and the pounds melted off. The amount of compliments I was receiving every day was more than I had ever gotten in my entire life. As any dude will tell you, we don't EVER get complimented so it felt absolutely amazing and I want to feel that way again. The reality is if I really do this well, I will likely not need the full 100 days to lose all the excess weight. When (not if) that happens I will happily alter this to more of a muscle build diet. LONG way to go but I know I can do this (I already did).

3) 100 days of no fap. I tried this last time I journaled and it went very well. I believe I got past 70+ days and another time past 40. The science behind this is inconclusive at best but all I can say is, after awhile I just felt better. At the very least the porn part of fap has to go. It's not natural, and it can't be good for you.

These will be the main pillars I will be focused on while adding anything else I see fit along the way. Some other things I will be doing:

Lifting - main focus initially will be Intermittent fasting and low carb but gradually want to be lifting more and more.

Stop buying & eating junk food - This ties into the IF and low carb but it bears repeating. I have wasted many small fortunes on fast food as well as gained many pounds. This must stop for my health and my wallet.

Reading - Need to find more time to read. So many books to read, so much useful knowledge I could be using but I'm struggling to build the habit.

Movie & TV backlog - Okay this one is just for fun (I gotta have some) Slowly start working on this massive backlog

Drastically reduce smart phone screen time - I need to find a way to track and reduce my phone screen time. I'm genuinely terrified to discover how bad it is. I      check the same 6 apps over and over.

Get outside more this summer - Get some vitamin D. Walk. Hike. Bike. Golf. Meet up with friends. Go on dates. Just don't waste another summer.

Stop mindlessly browsing the internet - This is truly one of my worst habits. If I can control this and the phone screen time I'm guessing I'd gain minimum 2 hours a day.

Go on dates / acquire GF - Well.. this one should be easier if I can make progress in all the above areas. But I'd love to have someone to spend time with this summer. I have been on an app for a few weeks and been on 3 dates now but too early to tell. Got my eye on someone else tbh. We'll see 😃

That's all I can think of for now. Excited to be back, I think this will be a good move for me.

LFG boys.

NannerZ

 

Edited by NannerZ
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Today officially marked Day 1 of the #100DaysofCode challenge that I started. This morning before work I found 90+ minutes to complete the "lists" module on my Codecademy beginner python 3 course. Really pleased at my progress so far, really felt like there were some breakthrough moments this morning. I will be publicly tweeting my day to day progress at @pegcitydfs on twitter.

It was also day 1 of 100 days of intermittent fasting. My fast began last night around 8:30 or so, and was broken almost 24 hours later tonight around 7:30 - 8 ish when I took down my only meal of the day. Chicken breast, vegetable medley, almonds, cheese, protein shake. All meals will be tracked in myfitnesspal app.

A great way to start an important chapter in my new life. Just need to repeat this day 99 more times. Tomorrow is another day.

LFG

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12 hours ago, NannerZ said:

Today officially marked Day 1 of the #100DaysofCode challenge that I started.

Intriguing! Kind of like the 90 day detox goal but applying the concept to building new habits and chasing new careers, this is really neat I may just have to use this soon, hope it goes well 🙂

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Successfully completed day 2 of the #100DaysofCode challenge and my own personal 100 days of Intermittent fasting challenge. The fasting was easy. Just don't eat, how much easier could it be? Healthy meal to break fast around 6pm and am already a few hours into the next fast.

Today my lesson in python was loops. I found it quite a step up in difficulty compared to lists yesterday. I will definitely review before moving on.

Not much else to say today. I just saw Will Smith slap the shit out of Chris Rock and yell like a crazy person. Wild stuff.

Back at it tomorrow.

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Wasn't able to journal or complete my python challenge yesterday but one of the golden rules of "Atomic Habits" is to never miss twice. Life is busy, life is complicated. It's okay to miss your goals, just don't miss twice. As soon as you let it get away from you, you've already started to build a negative habit (avoiding the good habit you're trying to build). I just finished up coding for about 90 minutes today. I redid the loops module as i struggled with it yesterday. I did much better but still found it quite difficult near the end of the lesson. I'm ready to move onto the next module tomorrow, there will be plenty more chances to get better with loops.

I did complete my 23ish hour fast and one healthy meal goal yesterday though so it wasn't all bad. I'm about to start cooking today's only meal as well and by the time I eat I believe I will be over 24 hours of fasting. So it looks like I've made it through another day accomplishing my goals. Just need to keep it up.

Also I weighed myself today just to see if 3 days of mega fasting with low carbs would have made a difference and I was surprised to see I'm already down 2.5 lbs from day 1 weigh in! Just gotta keep stacking the good days.

Onto tomorrow. LFG

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19 hours ago, NannerZ said:

I did complete my 23ish hour fast and one healthy meal goal yesterday though so it wasn't all bad.

nice going I fasted all food yesterday while drinking water and non-caffeinated tea and that water tasted so good at the end of the day the body just craved it.  the first half of the day was a dry fast consuming nothing.  I aim for at least one 24h fast once a week, it feels great and always look forward to that one day to take a load off of my feet though that's also what's so cool about intermittent fasting.  Good stuff Nanner!

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8 hours ago, goodvibes said:

nice going I fasted all food yesterday while drinking water and non-caffeinated tea and that water tasted so good at the end of the day the body just craved it.  the first half of the day was a dry fast consuming nothing.  I aim for at least one 24h fast once a week, it feels great and always look forward to that one day to take a load off of my feet though that's also what's so cool about intermittent fasting.  Good stuff Nanner!

Wow, good job. I don't think I can do a dry fast, I find the water really helps with any hunger issues. If I feel stomach rumbling I just drink some water and I'm good for another couple of hours. But yeah, fasting is the best, it's really changed my life.

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Just finished coding for about 90+ minutes. Today I moved onto the functions module. I found it quite a bit easier (but not easy) than loops but will still review again tomorrow. That's day 4 of #100DaysofCode complete.

Also easily completed my 5th day of 100 days of Intermittent fasting. I Believe it was about 24hours or so that I fasted between meals so I'm exceeding my 18+ hour window goal easily. Also I have decided after doing some more research and thinking about it more, I am going to only eat 1 meal a day for the entire month of April. I've actually only been eating 1 meal a day now for at least 4 days and it's been way easier than I thought.. it actually makes your whole life easier. It's 1 less meal to plan, prep, cook, eat, AND clean up. That's precious time I'd rather spend working on my other goals.

Things are going well so far, just gotta keep it up. I'm really glad I decided to come back here to journal, feels like this is the accountability that I've been missing.

 

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13 hours ago, NannerZ said:

Also I have decided after doing some more research and thinking about it more, I am going to only eat 1 meal a day for the entire month of April.

one big meal a day, one really big meal or is this aiming for a caloric deficit?  for either of the first two options I would keep a close eye on blood pressure myself idk I have no experience doing omad though best of luck however you decide.

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10 hours ago, goodvibes said:

one big meal a day, one really big meal or is this aiming for a caloric deficit?  for either of the first two options I would keep a close eye on blood pressure myself idk I have no experience doing omad though best of luck however you decide.

About 18-24ish months ago I was doing 16 hour fasts with 2 meals a day. High protein, low carb. The main goal was to lose weight. It worked very well. I got down to the lightest I'd been in over 10 years. In the last year or so I've gained almost all of it back (I wasn't fasting). Now I want to try to get approx 20+ hour fasts in with 1 meal a day. This will allow my body to spend many more hours in fat burning mode. The goal is to lose as much as possible, as fast as possible. All my IF knowledge is from Dr Sten Ekberg on YouTube. Amazing, IF youtuber.  I've been doing OMAD for 5 days now and I feel great so I'll monitor as I go. Thanks 😃

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Today has been a day of reflection and perspective. I had a lot of free time this morning to think about where I am, where I've been, and where I want to go. I was curious about the things I was talking about when I first journaled here 2+ years ago so I began to read through the early days of this journal.. ended up reading it all. I had forgotten how much I struggled with consistency. I don't remember being so frustrated but reading back some of the entries was really enlightening. One thing became crystal clear as I kept recognizing the same problem over and over again. If I want to lose weight successfully, I must reduce the instances each day where I am faced with a choice.  If I eat 3 meals a day, each day I must choose healthy foods 3 separate times. The odds that I will make a poor decision rise with each additional choice I must make, as willpower is a finite resource which depletes throughout the day. I thought about it all morning, and I know what I must do.

Beginning tomorrow April 1st, I pledge to eat only 1 meal a day for the entire month of April.

Here is why this is the perfect plan for me:

1) One meal a day will greatly increase the chances that I avoid making a poor / unhealthy decision.
2) Every meal will be planned ahead of time to avoid any surprises. I already plan out every week on my Google Calendar so I know when I'm supposed to be working, I know when I'm supposed to be at the gym, I know when I will practice coding, I know when I have social commitments, etc. I simply need to check my schedule for the day and make ONE decision about when/where/what I will eat to achieve my goal for the day.
3) Eating 1 meal a day will increase my fasting window from 16-20ish hours (which already worked great for me in the past) to closer to 20-26ish depending on each days commitments. This will allow my body an additional 4-10 hours of fat burning PER 24 hour cycle. Nutty.
4) It is SO much easier to only have to plan, prepare, cook, eat, and clean 1 meal a day than it is to do that entire cycle 2 or 3 or MORE times PER day. This allows so much more free time.

In preparation for this, I dumped the last of my coffee creamer down the drain this morning. I really love coffee but I need to cut out all added sugar from my diet and I want to see what I can do if I go absolutely berserk for an entire month. This will also help get more water in my body which is obviously a good thing. But yeah, I'm pumped for this. I could go on and on but I've covered what I needed to. I will probably be writing about this journey all month long anyway.

Oh yeah, in the midst of all that reflection this morning I found 60 minutes to code extending my #100DaysofCode streak to day 5. I also fasted all the way till approx 9:15ish pm which was about a 26-27 hour fast. It wasn't hard at all, I could have gone longer but I planned it earlier in the day.

Anyway, that's enough for now. I cannot wait to get started tomorrow. I will succeed.

LFG

NannerZ

 

Edited by NannerZ
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