For me it is a combination of exercise and watching what I eat. I have an established exercise routine involving weight workouts combined with about 1-2 hours of aerobic exercise 5-6 days a week. For aerobic exercise I variously hike, cycle, jog or walk briskly. I live near the Santa Rita Mountains and do a timed, eight-mile round trip hike with a 1700' climb once a week. I stay in backpacking shape by adding bottles of water to my day pack for this hike.

For eating I keep a mental score card of what I eat. I try to eat a healthful diet that is fairly low on the food chain. And, importantly, I try to eat mindfully. In the past, for example, I had the habit of eating peanuts by the handful. Now, I eat them 1/2 a peanut at a time and gain the same satisfaction. I try to eat my meals slowly; it takes a while for the full signal to get to your brain and the more you eat before it gets there the more adipose you accumulate.

I don't drink alcohol any more; it is metabolized more-or-less as a sugar and I try to keep my sugar consumption as low as possible - fruit only. I don't handle booze particularly well anyway so I stay away from it. Also, as WD states, you need to get used to being moderately hungry without using it as a signal to eat.

So far, it has worked out OK for me. When I got out of the Army long ago, I was about 6' tall and weighed about 175 pounds. I had been a medic in an airborne unit and was tough as a twenty-five-cent steak in those days. But, over the years I have shrunk: I am now 5' 10" and still weigh about 175. However, I am now in my mid 70's and my adipose to muscle ratio has shifted a bit since my army days. My ideal weight should now be nearer 160 pounds. I am working now to get my weight down but it comes off more slowly than it did when I was younger.

I don't personally think that diets work. Sure, one can loose weight on the "cranberry and boiled egg" diet or other such. But keeping the weight off is the hard part once the dieting ends. My preference is to not change what I eat but to change the way I eat. Modifying my eating behavior is a lot longer lasting than is going on a diet.