I've learned this past week - the hard way - that there are at least two things that I have to avoid at all costs if I want to continue to lose weight:
1. "Celebration" eating
2. Yummy food just sitting on the kitchen counter.
My birthday was about a week ago, and I "deserved" a celebration meal/binge/whatever. I didn't go stark raving nuts, but I did eat cake and pie. I gained two pounds.
Two days ago, despite my previous instructions to my wife, she made a pan of pecan brownies, and she left them sitting on the kitchen counter - all day. And the next. I had no sooner spotted the brownines as I walked by when my willpower went out the window and I ate several (but not the whole pan, at least). I gained two pounds from that.
Net weight gain in the last week - four pounds. Except for those two incidents, I'm on a 1600 calorie/day diet and I exercise strenuously almost every day. I'm amazed at how little effort it takes for my body to pack it on.
My wife eats whatever she wants, whenever she wants it (she's about 60 lbs. overweight and definitely not dieting), and I told her that the next time she makes something like that and doesn't put it out-of-sight, it's immediately going in the trash can. Since she's a junk-food-a-holic, I think she heard that. I don't mind it being in the cupboard or refrigerator - just as long as it's not right there under my nose.