94.3kg relative BF% on scales down another 0.2% though and my weight belt which was super tight on me at 95kg now fits like how it is meant to so I might try it out today on RDL's
I also bought some bright pink wide-toe box squat shoes, only one brand that does wide-toe box I have really wide feet so the option was order from the US and pay almost $400 to get them shipped across at full retail and get the colour I want or the one local store in Aus that sells them had an Easter sale but only had my size in pink but for $199 delivered it is worth it and also they match my wrist wraps which are black and pink, as the shoes are black sole and pink top I will find it funny to rock up in my pink gear then smash a big squat or something.
Not a lot happening on the dating front, I have not felt up to going out over the weekend, I think pulling 170kg deadlift Saturday just took it out of me, also there might be some mild avoidance and increased porn use. As I write this and journal out my thoughts the woman I am sleeping with I feel the need to cut it off, just not feeling the energy and vibe and in the back of my mind she is like always asking if I have slept with someone else and gets a little angry if I am not free when she wants to come over so just feels like I have to explain myself too much and it is causing me too much stress.
So I just texted her saying I wasn't vibing things anymore and I feel a little mixed between more free to chase other women but also loss of like my safety blanket when I don't really have a lot going on in my dating life right now which is bringing up fear of lack of sex and being a loser which I will sit with for a little. Which ties into the below
Zug dude thank you so much for your response you are so spot on the money!
Zug said:
Early on I used porn as a release for all my pent up resentment at lack of results. It does help alleviate some resentment, but the real issue is that you have that resentment and that it needs a release and that release needs to be porn. Those are the real underlying causes, and the porn use does nothing to help those. It also makes things worse over time. Once you start ritualizing, systematizing, and habituating to porn, it is incredibly incredibly difficult to reverse that process. Its hard to go back to being turned on by vanilla, and while you can make that better, I'm not convinced its 100% reversible.
Porn really has to go imo. Masturbation is an entirely different story. I'm not convinced moderate non-porn use masturbation has any negative impact unless you death grip. However, what's super interesting is how little appeal it has. You don't want to orgasm, you want to orgasm to porn. Its not the orgasm you're addicted to, its the porn. The greater the delta of your enjoyment between masturbating to porn and masturbating to nothing, the more the porn is controlling you.
You are correct in that I have a porn strategy and ritual, especially after a night out or even swiping on dating apps, then other strategies and habits formed around the porn use as my blanket escape and avoidance for stuff I am not even looking at clearly for myself it's like the following triggers and like emotion/pathway behind them:
Go out to a club and get no results > Frustrated at dating life > Loneliness/feel like a loser = Medicate with Porn
Look at hot girls on dating apps but get barely any matches > Jerk it to the girls I see > Loneliness/Loser/not good enough/am I ugly = Porn
Skip parts of my morning routine > I am not perfect I am not feeling it today (Rationalise skipping parts and go to porn) > Patterns of needing to be perfect or I am a fuck up, not disciplined leads to not good enough = Use porn
Avoiding doing some work stuff > Feeling overwhelmed, poor strategy on workload balance > Self judgement around why can't I just get this shit done = Avoid with Porn
Look at photos of my ex, think about her > frustrated at dating life, quality of women I am getting > loneliness, patterns of holding on and not letting go, self-judgement, shame & Guilt around looking at her = medicate with porn
Feeling lazy, feeling shitty, feeling down > avoid feeling anything and go to a pattern of numbness, slip into apathy with the use of porn
I make a mistake at work, staff member makes a mistake or client gets upset > Beat myself up, feel not good enough, self-doubt = Avoid more work with porn use
Stress, overwhelm, lethargy then feel like writing things off and escaping rather than digging in deeper or using other strategies
Actions and small baby steps to take:
Get back into doing the work (parts work)
Improve consistency on meditation
Block my ex on my side/stalk account (probably should just delete this)
Start small with just no porn and jerking off before lunch as it is one better than jerking it 3-4 times a day, goal is to just limit myself to once per day
write down why I want to quit porn
Write down the negative effects of porn on my life
Write down the positives to quitting porn
Do alternatives to porn when I feel an urge (will list some stuff below, I sort of did this with food and its been working)
Slowly shift the intensity and type of porn I look at
Delete my account or block massive "fear of missing out" Porn sites/Forums/onlyfans leak pages
List of alternative things I can do rather than sit and watch porn even if I am avoiding X action/Feeling: (some of these are easy some are hard so will focus on easy ones as one better)
Go grab a coffee and talk to the barista (Social connection/Get out of the house)
Put on some music I enjoy
Read a few pages of my book
Lay under my red light panel and put something I enjoy listening to (podcast, meditation track)
Watch a youtube video I enjoy
Call a friend
Reach out to a friend over messages
Urger surf and just try and give myself 5-10mins
Focus on today and going I can just jerk off tomorrow (works for food cravings)
Focus on the negative effects and feelings if I went and used porn now (I also do this with my diet I think of how badly my joints used to hurt)
Journal how I feel
Talk to my parts