A single mother-of-two has revealed how she pressed pause on her sex life because she kept falling in love with the men she was getting intimate with.

Jess Daya, from Miami, 44, decided the only way she'd give herself a chance to meet Mr Right was to take a year-long vow of celibacy.

Taking sex out of the equation has gone so well, that the life coach says she now has new-found confidence and even plans on extending the vow.

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Jess Daya, a life coach from Miami, says that taking the decision to live a sex-free life has given her new confidence and stopped her falling in love too easily

The mother-of-two, 44, endured a painful divorce but found the dating scene just as miserable after she would fall head over heels in love with the men she slept with

Having completed 12 months of abstinence, Jess is now planning on keeping her virtual chastity belt in place a little longer - and has even dumped two men in the meantime, because they kissed her.

She says: 'I felt like I was cheating on my celibacy and I don't want to do that, as I love my sex-free life.'

Jess vowed to give up sex for a year on her late mother Ini's birthday - 13th July 2016 - hoping it would make her more discerning when it came to choosing partners.

She explains: 'When I sleep with a guy, I fall for him. I even announced my pledge to stay celibate on Facebook, to make it official.

'Mum died in December 2015 from pancreatic cancer and, rather than crying on her birthday, I held a party with some friends to celebrate her life – even making a little altar dedicated to her.

'And I decided to make my celibacy vow, as she would have been proud of me, for trying to change the way I acted with men.'

When Daya's marriage broke down and she lost her mother in December 2015, she decided to take a different approach to dating and ban any man from her bed

While Daya admits that she misses the intimacy of a close relationship, she's now decided to keep her celibacy vow for a little longer

Despite not sleeping with prospective beaus, she's still managed to fall in love a couple of times with dates during her year-long sex ban

While the self-imposed sex ban has not stopped Jessica from dating, although she has been honest from the outset about it, and says the men she has seen have respected her decision.

Currently single, Jess recognised her weakness for co-dependent love matches – where someone has one-sided, dysfunctional relationships – after her 11-year marriage broke down in May 2016.

Hurt and needy after she'd grown apart from her husband, she fell into a relationship with a former friend, which she ended after six weeks – making her celibacy vow just two days later.

She said: 'The end of my marriage, followed by a disappointing fling, made me realise how vulnerable sex made me.

'I think not having sex is helping me to make better choices and has protected me from heartbreak. Jess Daya

'I'm super-sensitive. If I sleep with a guy, I fall for him and become co-dependent.

'Now, I hope that, by being celibate, I can learn to love myself and then make better choices when it comes to relationships.

'So far, even though I miss the intimacy of sex, it's really working. I feel far more confident about who I am.'

When, on 1st August 2016, she made her vow official on Facebook, she received 'great feedback.'

'I got an amazing reaction,' says Jessica. 'People said I was inspirational, they said they wanted to do it, too.

'Since then, I've been vocal about my choice, even writing about it on Instagram. It's been a great experience.'

Despite being sex-free, Jessica has still fallen in love twice in the past year. Just weeks after making her vow, she was approached by a 29-year-old man in a park, asking for her number.

'He looked like a Latin Romeo, who just wanted to get me into bed – so I refused,' she laughs.

Co-dependency issues were the main reason that Daya decided to leave her carnal desires at the front door when going on dates

'But we bumped into each other another twice and became Facebook friends. I told him about my celibacy, which he respected, but I fell in love with him just through chatting.'

In October 2016, she confessed that she had fallen for him and her handsome companion felt the same.

'We spent the next two weeks kissing a lot,' she says. 'He never tried to touch me. He never stayed the night.

'But I started feeling dependent on him – getting anxious if he didn't text back. I sensed my co-dependency raising its ugly head again.

Her late mother inspired her to act, saying her mother would be proud of the way she had taken decisive action in her relationships with men

'Kissing felt like I was technically cheating on my celibacy, so I broke it off – although I still love and miss him.'

Then, six months later, in March, Jessica felt an instant connection when she met another man on her local beach.

'He started telling me personal things, even though we'd only just met,' she explains. 'I felt like he was brought in to my life for a reason.'

Afterwards, chatting on Facebook, she told him she was celibate – only to discover that he was, too. But despite her trying to avoid relationships, they started spending nights together and frequently kissed.

'He'd been celibate since the previous May, because he'd got hurt, so we didn't have sex.'

Kiss me if you dare: While Daya says she's still fallen in love twice this year, her co-dependency issues have improved since she stopped men coming into her bedroom

'We kissed, though, and he crossed boundaries, so I had to tell him to back off.

'He said he wanted to marry me and I loved him, too, but we'd only been together for a month. Everything was happening too fast. I could see myself repeating a pattern, so I ended it.'

Convinced that her sex ban has enabled her to take more control of her life, Jess whose two sons are aged four and nine years old, is now writing a book about her experience.

'I am very impressed that the men I've dated haven't tried to coax me into sleeping with them,' she said.

'I think not having sex is helping me to make better choices and has protected me from heartbreak.

'I might stay celibate until the end of the year – or for even longer, if it helps me to find The One. I'm looking forward to some day having sex with The One.

'Everyone should try it!'