For many people, weight loss is much more than a vanity issue. Your wellbeing and longevity can be seriously affected, when you carry around too many pounds.

Shedding those excess pounds may not be the hard part; successful weight loss involves keeping the pounds from returning. Listed below are four things to stop doing, which could enable you to shed the pounds and keep them from coming back.

1. Stop Counting Calories

This type of weight loss approach can drive you crazy. It is very difficult to keep track every little thing that you eat. Even if it works, you are going to have to continue doing it for the rest of your life. This is a weight loss commitment that few people can make.

2. Stop Starving Yourself

This is simply not a good way to form lifetime habits. In fact, this could be part of your problem. When you starve yourself, your body is alerted to the reduced calorie intake. In order to keep you from starving to death, it slows your metabolic process. For this reason so many people often hit a brick wall known as the feared "weight loss plateau".

3. Stop Getting In A Big Hurry

When you shed twenty or thirty pounds in a very short time, you will most likely gain those pounds back. That will most probably be body fat. Also, over time, you can significantly increase your overall BMI or body mass index, which only compounds the problem.

4. Stop Thinking In Terms of Less Food Equals More Weight Loss

This can be very misleading. Many people limit their eating and are completely miserable the entire time. In addition to that, they may be setting themselves up for a "binge". You must eat all through the day to keep your body functioning efficiently. The more often you eat, the more effective your metabolism becomes, and this may bring about weight loss.

Think of it as stoking the boiler of an old fashioned locomotive. If you throw a large amount of wood in every few hours, the boiler will get hot and work well for awhile. However, the temperature will start to cool and this will affect the entire machinery.

Now try something different.

Toss in smaller amounts of wood at more frequent intervals. The boiler will keep a constant temperature and run at maximum efficiency. Your body works in a similar manner, in relation to weight loss.

Try eating smaller and more frequent meals all through your day. Your body will burn the fuel at a more even rate, which will increase your efficiency. In fact, it may help to increase your metabolism and make weight loss easier.

Successful weight loss may not be about what you do, but what you stop doing. Stop counting calories and stop starving yourself. Do not get in a hurry to shed extra pounds, and start eating more often.