I've lost 80 lbs from peak and kept it off for > 15 years without trying. Never gained more than 5 lbs since losing the weight. I've never dieted or restricted my diet. I eat when I have a desire to eat. I eat so called junk food and bad food (butter, olive oil, bacon, meat, fatty nuts, whole milk/half-half) daily. I generally avoid high sugar dishes and rarely drink soda but that's due to taste.
In my experience the goal is to align your unconscious desire for food with your bodies daily need.
Any attempt to control your hunger through conscious willpower will fail, because that approach reinforces the mind's belief that food is the reward.
Instead, first you must get familiar with the feeling of true belly hunger. Most people don't know what this is. Usually you eat due to mind / heart hunger which is the "craving for pizza" or "i'm starving" feeling. You are eating because of habit, reflex or emotional need.
Belly hunger is the cramping and headaches you get when you are truly at caloric deficit. Once in a while It helps to go running without calories to push yourself into hypoglycemic sensation. You will get dizzy and fatigued. Once you eat you will feel like you just did narcotics.
Now that you know that feeling of belly hunger, you should have that feeling daily (if only mildly). Keep reducing your portions until you hit that feeling regularly. Avoid seconds or having snacks nearby.
Eventually belly hunger becomes your signal to eat rather than mind hunger . And when you serve food you will serve portions that will satisfy the belly hunger and not your emotional needs.
Once you are at this point you'll be on autopilot. The other side effect is that avoiding eating will become more rewarding since you will enjoy the belly-hunger feeling (since it's natural), and the bloated feeling will elicit disgust.
When I was overweight, overeating brought intense relief and pleasure. Now the sensations are inverted and overeating makes me feel deeply disgusted (like eating a rotten apple).
tl;dr Align your hunger reflex with your biological need for food by treating your body as a dog that needs to be trained to associate hunger with positive emotions and overindulgence with negative ones.