A Kick-Butt Butt-Kicking Plan

Here's a tool you should absolutely use when you're trying to ditch a nicotine habit: your phone.

But don't call just anyone. Call a quit line -- a free phone line dedicated to helping counsel people who are trying to quit. It could double your chances of success.

Frequent Callers
Intensive telephone counseling (multiple sessions and follow-up calls work best) coupled with free medication (many quit lines help you find complimentary nicotine patches or other meds) doubled the quit rate of smokers in a recent study. So don't go it alone or do it cold turkey. Every state has quit-smoking hotlines. Here's what else helps:

• Set a quit date. Then do this countdown.
• Call or e-mail a support person daily to discuss your progress.
• Walk 30 minutes a day. (It will help you feel better. Here's how.)
• Talk to your doctor about patches or pills that can help.
• Check out the stop-smoking Quitline, below.
• More tips . . .

Watch RealAge expert Mehmet Oz, MD, on The Oprah Winfrey Show today as he explains his tried-and-true strategies for kicking the habit.

The effectiveness and cost effectiveness of telephone counselling and the nicotine patch in a state tobacco quitline. Hollis, J. F., McAfee, T. A., Fellows, J. L., Zbikowski, S. M., Stark, M., Riedlinger, K., Tobacco Control 2007 Dec;16 Suppl 1:i53-59.