NoFap - How Far Back Does A Relapse Set Me? (Are You Back To Zero?)

So how far back will a relapse on NoFap set me?

Ahh, the million dollar question.

Let’s look at this question from the point of view of someone who is addicted to fapping to online porn.

Ok, so take a deep breath now as I ask you to realize that there is not one single person on the whole planet who knows an exact answer to this. 

Why?

Your dopamine system is not the same as your friends...

First of all, we are all different and your rewards system may not respond the same as your friends etc.

Also, what kind of relapse was it?

I mean, think about how different they can be…

There are many different relapses as well...

One relapse can be a quick peek on some Instagram models, while edging a bit, for about 1 minute or so. While another relapse can be a full 7 hours fapping fest, where you fap your brains out, to all kinds of weird hardcore stuff you find online.

"Needless to say, the second alternative sets you way more back then the first one!"

Then we can also find everything in between these two, so relapsing is not an on or off thing. It's a a spectrum.

Perhaps an even bigger factor on how far back a relapse  is going to set you is how far you’ve come in your recovery when the relapse happen.

George puts his life in order...

Let's talk about our imaginary online friend, George for a moment here.

George is an alcoholic who has decided to set his life in order.

He is overweight and all the alcohol has given him small wounds inside his stomach. He’s very unfit and can’t even run one single mile.

Well, one Sunday evening he says, "That’s it I had my last drink. Things are going to change!"

He manages to start putting himself together. And it pays off.

For every week that goes by his brain is getting more and more healthy. 

He has started exercising, eating well and he loses about 2 pounds a week. After about 5 months, he’s like a completely new person. 

His brain is functioning really well, he has lost about 50 pounds. His skin is better and he is on top of the world.

Is George's friend going to destroy everything?

Then, one Saturday afternoon, while out shopping for some food, George runs into Steve.

It just so happens to be Steve’s birthdays so Steve says, “Hi Gorge, I’m heading to the cool little bar across the street, why don’t you keep me some company”.

George is too polite to say no, so he goes to the bar with Steve.

Well, that was a bad idea!

10 beers later, George is back home, throwing up in his bathroom.

Did George destroy all his progress?

Well, that relapse was not good. But look at how far George has come.

• He lost all the weight
• He healed his stomach problem
• He's brain is working so much better
• He has learned many new things

Most importantly, he has learned so much about himself and how to regulate his emotions.

And that’s why he managed to get so far as well.

He didn't suddenly undo all the good...

Now, the relapse that happened at the bar was not good. But it didn’t make him gain all those 50 pounds back overnight.

It didn’t suddenly wipe out everything he had learned during those 5 months. 

It did not knock out all the dopamine receptors he had managed to grow back during all those five months, and luckily, it didn’t make his stomach go bad again.

However, if George would have said, "Oh man, I blew it. I’m back to day 0, so I might as well drink for a few days before starting a new streak".

Uh-Oh, then he would have binged for a couple of weeks and after that then, yes, then he really would have lost almost all of his progress. 

The potential dangers of using a day counter...

Do you see the danger of using a counter there? 

If Gorge is living by using a counter, then after his first relapse he is obviously going reset the counter. And when looking at the big ZERO on the counter he thinks he has to start from scratch again...

...with everything.

In this situation it is so easy to start to think, "I blew it...might as well binge a bit more before I start a new streak"

NOOOOOO!!!

The dopamine system does not count days...

Listen, after the relapse his counter was back to zero, but the reward system in the brain does not count days.

It just heals slowly, week after week, at its own little pace. He didn’t wipe out all the healing after just one night of drinking.

No!

If George gets right back up after the relapse, and that one relapse was the only one, then it didn’t set him far back at all.

6 to 7 days, perhaps...

For those of you who love numbers, I’d say he would be right back to his "pre relapse state" after perhaps 6-7 days, or so.

But do not quote me on that one, as things like that are obviously impossible to know on an exact, down to the day, level.

The point of that story is to make it clear that you are NOT back to zero. Not even after a hard relapse, if you've made that much progress.

You just need to get right back up and do your best to avoid bingeing.

Just get back up, brush it off, learn from it and move on...

...and you’ll be back in no time. 

Feeling stuck? You can transform your life in 13 weeks OR LESS by >>Downloading<< my FREE guide below...

Let's get back to NoFap...

If you on the other hand are someone who relapses about 2 times a week. And this has been going on for a couple of months, then you have not built up any real healing there. So for you a relapse would most likely set you back to zero.

Say you relapse every Saturday and Sunday.

You’ve been doing this for quite some time and then you suddenly also relapse on Thursday which is your day 4.  

Well, then yes, you are back to zero because you never got to the point of making any real progress in terms of resetting your dopamine system.

A NoFap relapsing scenario with some longer streaks

Here comes a third scenario.

Perhaps you are a person who frequently manage to do streaks like this...

• 64 days
• Relapse
• 33 days
• Relapse
• 24 days
• Relapse
• 7 days
• Relapse
• 45 days
• Relapse
• 31 days
• Relapse
• 23 days 
• Relapse
• 45 days 

Well guess what?

Those numbers are pretty close to my first years of rebooting, and listen to this...

Even those numbers are big enough to NOT put you back to zero when you relapse.

If your PMO reboot is looking like that, you are actually progressing -well depending on where you're coming from- but what I mean is, if your reboot is looking like that you are probably building more than you are tearing down.

Just as long as you don't binge...

However, that is only true as long as you do not binge when those relapses happen. If you relapse, get right back up on the horse and keep going. 

Do…not…binge!

Now, sure, it will take much longer to heal if you keep relapsing like this, but as you still are making progress overall, many people can still heal like this.

A NoFap relapse set me back 10-14 days...

Many years ago, back when I was struggling, I was having  streaks like you just read and I noticed that if I relapsed with fapping to online adult entertainment it put me back about 10-14 days. 

But I need to point out, that was if the relapse was pretty short, like just 15 minutes or so.

A 7 hour binge would have been a different animal, and that would indeed have set me back much much further.

Keep in mind now, that these streaks are already pretty long, so it is not a beginner level.

The brain is able to experience some decent healing during those medium long streaks as well, so that’s why a small relapse only set me back about 10-14 days.  

What does "setting back" mean?

And when I say, set me back, I am talking about my energy levels dropping, my high confidence plummeting, my depression coming back and my motivation and drive going away.

However, after about 10-14 days I was right back to where I was prior to the relapse. 

Remember now, just because I say 10-14 days, for me, does not mean your number are going to look the same. 

I mean, you all know that by now, so I don’t have to pointing it out, right? 

But since I know you still want to hear some kind of specific example, with clear numbers, I thought I'd share my own experience there.

How far does a relapse set you back on NoFap? The conclusion

So to sum it up, If you are somewhere in the middle of your healing process, and you have a small relapse, it may potentially set you back 10-14 days or so. 

If you are in the very beginning of your journey, it probably sets you back to zero.

AND if you have come a long way with streaks like 80 days, 120, days, 150 days, 78 days and so on, a small relapse only sets you back perhaps 7, 8  days or so...

...if you don’t binge!

But remember, your results may vary and those numbers should definitely be taken with a grain of salt.

-Scandinavian Bob-

Related posts:

• How bad is a relapse on NoFap / when you're trying to quit porn?
• NoFap is peeking a relapse? (if you have a porn addiction vs not addicted)
• Am I back to zero if I relapse on NoFap / reboot?