"Commando" wrote to someone who was talking about gradually cutting down, rather than stopping cold-turkey:
Some people claim that masturbation is just a natural desire, just like eating and sleeping. I agree that it's very natural. But a natural lifestyle would be NOT to be shomer bris at all. The whole concept of the bris is to go beyond natural and become part of the supernatural. The bris on the 8th day symbolizes the number 8 which is beyond nature, as the Maharal explains. So changing ourselves to keep the bris isn't going to work if we treat this the same as eating foods with less cholesterol. It will require supernatural effort which by definition will require the help of Hashem.
The problem with discussing cold turkey vs. gradual slowdown is that in both cases you're looking at the future instead of the present. And you can't predict your circumstances or feelings in the future. How do you know you can hold out another day/week/month/year? Also, if you look at the future, that can stress you out because you see the tall mountain instead of the hair. Try the "one day at a time" approach, then the whole discussion becomes irrelevant. On any given day we're either capable of being shomer the bris or we're not. If we're capable, that means we have Hashem's help to succeed, and that help will probably come in the form of the ability to use the tools listed in the GYE handbook. If we're truly incapable and fall, hopefully we'll be considered an oneis like Reb Tzadok Hakohen says (see my posting here).