The NoFap day tracker is a popular tool in the fap-free community. It can be an app on your phone or a physical calendar.
It’s used to keep track of how many days an individual has been clean of PMO (porn, masturbation, orgasm).
And it can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
The deciding factor is how you use it.
It’s common for guys to hop on the subreddit or NoFap forums and see users neatly displaying an “x days” flair under their username.
Moreover, many threads and videos discuss the best apps to track your progress. And all the benefits you can expect on “x day.” Unfortunately, this feeds into the whole mania.
The point is, tracking days has become ingrained in the NoFap culture.
And it can turn into an obsession that can hurt your progress.
Our job today is to ensure you don’t fall into that crowd. Instead, we’d like to guide you on the correct way to use a NoFap day tracker to measure your progress and hold you accountable.
We’ll also touch on the psychology behind the day tracker — and our tried and tested philosophy for recovery from porn addiction.
Why You Should Use a Day Tracker
There are two main reasons to use a NoFap day tracker. First, is accountability — and second is to track your progress. Let’s talk about each one briefly.
A relapse isn’t the end of the world. But you need to be held accountable when you slip. This ensures that it doesn’t happen too frequently… and causes a downward spiral. A day counter helps you know exactly when you’ve relapsed, so you can prevent the next one.
It also allows you to document the who, what, where, when, and why. In other words, a detailed account of your triggers. If you see a pattern, it can be analyzed and solved.
Your number of days clean isn’t everything when it comes to tracking progress. But it’s a big part of the progression. Not watching explicit content for a long period is correlated to recovery.
Here’s what a day tracker shouldn’t be used as:
- A metaphoric dick-measuring contest against others on NoFap.
- A metric for self-worth. Just because you’re back on day zero doesn’t erase the progress you’ve made.
- The only indicator of recovery.
Some guys start NoFap to cure sexual dysfunction (such as porn-induced erectile dysfunction). They use the lessening of their symptoms to track recovery. We think this an excellent model because it ties motivation and progress together.
The more results one sees, the more likely they are to continue.
Porn Blocking Apps
Many plugins and apps block explicit content. They sometimes come with a day tracker. This can be helpful if you prefer to have everything in one place. Here are a few helpful apps you can use:
- Qustodio: This is a paid service starting at $54.95 per year. They offer a free 3-day trial and cover up to five devices. You can customize your blocking and manage screen time as well.
- Covenant Eyes: This starts at $17 a month but covers ten people on unlimited devices. If you have an accountability group, this is an ideal choice. Try the 30-day trial. It uses AI technology to scan images before they appear on the screen.
- Canopy: This app manages screen time and schedules breaks in addition to blocking harmful content. It starts at $99.99 per year and covers five devices.
- SPIN: This is a fully functional web browser. It blocks pornographic content and gray areas where porn is likely to appear.
- Norton Family Parental Control: This is helpful if you’re a parent trying to protect your children from harmful content. It lets you supervise their activity, enable time limits, and block inappropriate content.
Drawbacks of Tracking Days on NoFap
When guys place too much importance on their day trackers, it can lead them down a dark path. Here are a few drawbacks of tracking days.
1. The pressure: If someone’s a member of the NoFap community and they display their streak publicly, it can place immense pressure on them to uphold it. And that pressure can cause a relapse.
Moreover, after a recent slip-up, they may be reluctant to engage with others. Arguably, this is a time when they need support the most.
2. Self-image: A big problem with tracking days is that your addiction is in full view. Not literally — but consider this: seeing what day you’re on is a reminder. It’s constant nagging that you’re still an addict.
And that can negatively seep into your self-image.
Do you track how many days in a row you’ve brushed your teeth? I’d hope not. Doing so sounds absurd. Basic hygiene is likely a part of who you are.
This is how you have to see NoFap. This is who you are now. You don’t watch porn. It’s a shift in your identity.
Action time: Meditate over why you count days. Does looking at a large number feel good? Are you seeking validation online from others? Does it help you stay accountable?
Be honest with yourself and think about the benefits that tracking days gives you. Once you’ve answered this, you’re in a better position to decide if you want to keep this practice or let it go.
3. Comparison: There are many anecdotes about the stages of NoFap and what to expect during each one. For example, some guys say they felt a surge of confidence on day 30. And it helped them get a girlfriend.
The truth: Everyone’s experience is different. It depends on how long they’ve been watching porn, and how intensely they were addicted. It also depends on their age. Comparison in this arena is useless — and we advise you to steer clear of it.
If day counters cause you to compare yourself to others, consider a different approach.
Many of these drawbacks come from a lack of understanding of what recovery is. In the following section, we’ll outline what recovery is.
What Is Recovery?
It’s important to understand the purpose of tracking days if you want to do it successfully.
Ultimately, the goal is to recover from porn addiction. Tracking days shouldn’t be about some hierarchy within the NoFap community. Or feeling good when you hit 90 days. Or even chasing some supposed “superpower” which may or may not come.
Recovery isn’t just about how many days you’ve gone clean. Yes, it’s still important to be clean for long periods — and eventually, be clean for good to facilitate recovery.
But a day tracker only counts the days you’ve been clean. This is abstinence. And recovery is more than just abstinence.
Recovery is about how you spend the time being clean. Do you have a healthy routine or an unhealthy one? Are you a degen playing video games while shirking your responsibilities? Or are you hitting the gym?
Also, consider how you manage urges. Are they frequent? Did you peek now and then? How has your dating life and success with women been? Do you feel more social?
All these factors and more are indicators of recovery.
For example, instead of obsessing over how to quit porn — consider taking a course on social skills if that’s a personal weakness. It’ll divert your focus to something productive, and help you quit porn in the process.
Lastly, recovery is different for every guy. The point is — it’s so much more than just your day counter. Look at your goals and see how much progress you’ve made toward them since committing to NoFap.
This is a more accurate way to measure recovery.
A Number Isn’t the Full Story
We touched on the idea of why counting days isn’t enough for recovery. Let’s expand on that idea with a few concepts.
- Brain changes: Different parts of your brain need their own time to heal. And your brain doesn’t know what day it is. It’ll do what it needs to reverse the changes caused by PMO.
- Healing is different for everyone: It’s difficult to tell where you are in the healing process. Every guy has a different brain. Also, the earlier you discovered porn, the more damage it may have done. How intense/violent was the porn? Also, how long are your sessions on average? All these questions and more will factor into your healing.
- Relapses are different for everyone: Some guys stop watching immediately after they nut. Others like to draw out the process and edge for hours before orgasm. Some take the opposite approach and binge for hours relapsing multiple times. Was porn involved? How far were you into recovery before a relapse? These are just a few of the factors that need to be considered.
There are variables beyond this that need to be taken into account. This means the number on your day counter might not be an accurate reflection of your recovery.
Keep in mind that some days are significant. These days are well-studied and documented across a large population. Moreover, you can leverage these days to help you abstain.
For example, studies show a spike in testosterone after seven days of abstinence.
Another example is NoFap upregulating your androgen receptors after 15 days. Your receptors will bond to the free testosterone in your blood more efficiently. As a result, you’ll become more manly.
A Different Approach
If you’ve decided not to count days after weighing the pros and cons — here’s another approach you can use.
Count the number of days you’ve been clean in a month.
or
Count the number of relapses you’ve had in a month.
This approach (especially the latter one) is great at combating binges. A reset to zero is imminent, but every session after that does more damage. And it counts as its own relapse.
Now your focus will shift. Instead of trying to build up a long streak. You shoot for more “clean” days every month.
We’ve seen guys succeed, and also fail with this method. You may go through a phase of trial and error to find out what works best.
Takeaways
Day trackers are a helpful tool to help you quit porn for good.
But don’t get lost in the hype while tracking days.
Look at other metrics of recovery. Examples are lessening symptoms of sexual dysfunction, how often you’re keeping up positive habits, and how you manage your urges.
Some of these will be harder to measure than others. If you’re tracking how intense your urges are on a scale of one to ten — that’s qualitative data. What may be a three to someone may be a seven to someone else.
But metrics like this can be an excellent indicator of recovery.
Remember that NoFap is a catalyst for change in your life. You’re most likely doing this to transform an area (or overhaul) your life. Don’t get caught up in counting days if it doesn’t serve you.
And finally, to truly quit fapping for good — you need to instill an identity shift. The daily conversations you have with yourself about who you are dictate what you do.
Hold your head high and view yourself as already having overcome this addiction. This is the way to succeed my NoFap brother.
