Nofap and Weight Loss: Is There a Link?

If you’re on NoFap, chances are you’re holistically improving other areas of your life.

Weight loss is a popular area for men to tackle when they commit to NoFap.

What if you could use NoFap to lose weight? Wouldn’t it be awesome to kill two birds with one stone?

But what does not masturbating have to do with shedding extra pounds?

If anything, you’d think that masturbation helps weight loss since you’re burning calories during the act.

There’s been speculation that NoFap and weight loss are related. And it could be true. Keep reading to find out.

We’ll explore the potential link between the two. To lose weight using NoFap, we need insight into how NoFap works. We also need to understand the science of weight loss.

This article will clarify the possible link between NoFap and weight loss. And we’ll show you how to incorporate both practices in your life efficiently.

What Is Nofap?

NoFap is an online community in which members abstain from masturbation and porn. They do so for its purported physical, mental, and spiritual benefits.

This practice of refraining from porn “reboots” the brain and helps the individual heal from porn addiction. The resulting improvement in brain health can lead to better relationships and a more fulfilling life.

Much research has gone into the effects of abstaining from porn and masturbation. These studies reveal how NoFap works and what its benefits are.

How Nofap Works

Before we establish a link between NoFap and weight loss, it’s essential to understand how NoFap works.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter responsible for seeking reward. It gives us the drive to pursue future rewards or long-term goals. Craving your favorite dessert or spending hours on a video game is caused by dopamine. Even positive habits like studying for an exam fall into this category.

Drugs such as heroin and cocaine similarly stimulate our dopamine receptors. When introduced to an unnatural level of dopamine, our brain decreases the total number of receptors to reach homeostasis. This is essentially a state of balance our body needs to function.

Here’s how this ties into NoFap:

Masturbation with porn is one of the most dopamine-inducing activities you can pursue.

Think about it — sex is a crucial activity for the survival of your genes. So it makes sense that your body would reward you the most for it.

A consistent supply of extreme and novel porn will cause your brain to lower its dopamine receptors. Here are some consequences of low dopamine:

• Insomnia
• Low libido
• Mood swings
• Memory loss
• Social anxiety
• Sugar cravings
• Unable to focus
• Stress
• Lack of motivation

When men stop watching porn, they report a reversal of these effects. Let’s look at a few of these benefits below.

NoFap Benefits

Our brain is highly adaptable thanks to a process called neuroplasticity. This is the brain’s ability to change its response to stimuli by reorganizing its connections. But this ability needs to be trained. It’s how people get addicted to porn in the first place.

Their brain rewires itself to prefer porn over real sex but as mentioned, it can be reversed. Let’s switch gears for a minute and look at what men report when their brains recover from porn.

Here are a few benefits of NoFap:

• More motivation
• Higher libido
• An attraction for real women
• Increased social skills
• “I feel alive again”
• Increased strength
• Fat loss

It’s common for guys to feel like the world is on their side instead of out to get them.

Here’s an update from a member of the NoFap community that captures this sentiment perfectly:

These benefits are just the tip of the iceberg for men whose dopamine levels have returned to normal.

The Science Behind Weight Loss

Weight loss is a decrease in body weight that comes as a result of an improvement in diet and exercise.

Weight loss has been found to reduce the risk of many health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Furthermore, a lower body fat percentage is correlated with higher testosterone. Better sleep, memory, and even the function of your eyes may improve if you lose 50 pounds or more!

So, how do you lose weight? Simply consume fewer calories than you burn. It’s easier said than done, but that’s essentially what it boils down to. There are a few hormones in the mix that regulate hunger levels too.

Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, lets your body know it’s time to refuel. This is caused by the fat cells in your body. When you lose fat your fat cells shrink and produce less leptin meaning you won’t feel as full.

While losing weight, you have two fronts to attack. First, you need to eat fewer calories. And second, you need to burn more calories.

Rebalancing your brain chemistry through NoFap helps you reach both of these targets. Let’s find out how.

How Nofap Can Help With Weight Loss

There’s nothing inherently magical about NoFap that causes you to lose weight. Processes in the brain are triggered by abstaining from porn. And it’s up to you to take advantage of them.

In other words, NoFap doesn’t cause weight loss. It simply paves the way for an easier time losing weight.

It all hinges on dopamine. In practical terms, rebalancing your brain chemistry is about controlling how much dopamine is released in your system. This can be achieved through delaying gratification.

The more you delay gratification, the more sensitive your dopamine receptors will become. And this helps you enjoy the little things again. It makes exercise fun and helps you resist that extra cookie.

If you don’t put in the work and leverage these processes, you won’t lose weight. Again, simply not touching your junk won’t make the weight fly off.

Increased Willpower

Willpower isn’t something you’re “born with”. It’s a complex response to stimuli affected by stress, lack of sleep, or a poor diet. But just like it can be weakened through these poor choices, it can also be strengthened.

Willpower can be compared to a stress response. For example, if you’re stressed your body is reacting to something external such as a morning alarm. Willpower is the same, except you’re responding to an internal conflict. Knowing you shouldn’t be doing something, and doing it anyway is an example of this.

This is where NoFap and weight loss come in.

Our limbic systems drive us to eat more than needed — it’s evolutionarily rooted in us. This is because when our brain perceives scarcity it wants to store fat for future use.

Your prefrontal cortex can override your limbic system.

Think of your prefrontal cortex as a muscle. Resisting porn and masturbation is a workout for your prefrontal cortex. The more you resist, the stronger it gets.

And when you have a strong prefrontal cortex, it becomes easier to stay away from calorically dense, highly palatable foods.

But remember, it’s up to you to determine how many calories you need. It’s up to you to make the diet plan. And it’s up to you to stay away from junk food.

Heightened Motivation and Discipline

We all know exactly what we have to do.

Drink more water, eat less, and exercise more.

So how come some of us can’t do it?

The difference lies in motivation and discipline.

Here’s a secret about intrinsic motivation: It relies heavily on dopamine.

People who have overcome the NoFap challenge have restored their dopamine system. So it’s no surprise they can stick to a diet plan. They need motivation initially, but discipline takes the reins once their eating habits are dialed in.

It’s not all smooth sailing though.

NoFap can make you gain weight too.

Abstaining from porn creates a dopamine void. Your body is used to more dopamine so it’ll look for that dopamine elsewhere.

You may also be stressed and irritable from withdrawals, making you crave junk food. Keep in mind that your water weight will fluctuate during the day. Additionally, semen retention will cause a change in your hormone levels which can cause you to retain weight.

Instead of seeing these events as setbacks, learn to accept them as natural speed bumps in the process.

Increased Metabolism

Your metabolism determines how quickly your body burns the calories you consume and turns them into energy. The slower your metabolism is, the quicker you’ll gain weight. And the faster it is, the easier it’ll be to lose weight.

Excessive fapping reduces testosterone in the short term. And testosterone plays a big role in determining your metabolic rate.

Your metabolic rate also depends on the following:

• Body size: Larger people will burn more calories, even while resting.
• Muscle mass: Higher testosterone means more muscle and less fat. Muscle also has a thermogenic effect. This means that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest.
• Sex: Due to biological differences, men have more muscle and less fat than women on average. This means they will burn more calories.
• Age: Older people tend to have less muscle. This slows metabolism.

There are also a couple of other factors that determine how many calories you burn:

• How the body uses calories: Approximately 10% of calories consumed are used to process food.
• Movement: This includes conscious activity such as exercise.

Many other factors affect weight gain or weight loss. These can include genetics, hormones, and sleep. In rare cases, medical conditions can also have an impact.

The Link Between NoFap and Weight Loss

There isn’t much research on the link between NoFap and weight loss. Of the studies out there, none show a direct link between NoFap and weight loss.

However, NoFap can assist in weight loss.

First, you need to understand the ins and outs of weight loss. More specifically, fat loss. This is because most guys have the goal of putting on muscle. Any weight they’d like to lose is ideally coming from fat. This understanding will give you an idea of what to optimize in your environment to promote fat loss.

Next, learn about the science of NoFap. Many changes are occurring in the brain when you stop watching porn and masturbating. You can leverage these changes to apply what you learned about weight loss.

Your brain will also be better equipped to handle temptation when it arises. It’ll also be healthy enough to stay the course when things get tough.

A conscious understanding of both subjects will allow you to create a link between the two.

The Final Verdict

There’s limited evidence that suggests NoFap will directly make you lose weight. Not masturbating and sitting on the couch won’t do anything.

NoFap rebalances your brain chemistry. This gives you increased willpower, motivation, and drive. It’s up to you to use this to educate yourself and take action on how to lose weight.

Additionally, NoFap will give you temporary testosterone spikes which are ideal for building muscle and losing fat.

Losing weight is attributed to better lifestyle choices. Namely, a cleaner diet and improved exercise habits. Both practices support each other. And if your goals include both, it’s best to combine them. Also, be careful not to be too extreme.

A dangerously low-calorie deficit may spur cravings. And if you can’t satisfy them using food, they may become an urge to masturbate.

Also, compulsive masturbation can be harmful to your mental health. This can manifest in many ways including poor diet and exercise choices.

We recommend consulting with a healthcare professional for personalized advice to lead a healthy lifestyle.