What actually works for staying pure and beating lust?

There are three main components for purity. Number one is prayer: morning and evening prayers, being diligently dialed in to those prayers, not skipping them, not skipping a day, not skipping the morning prayers. Number two is fasting: actually following the fast and submitting your will to God regarding the fast. A tremendous amount of grace comes from that.

Number three is accountability. This means ideally daily check-ins that you send at the end of your day, primarily via text message, to your spiritual father: did you do your morning and evening prayers, did you keep the fast if it was required that day, and how many days of sobriety you have for purity. Those three components I have found to be incredibly effective for people who are daily putting in the work.