My advice (from my own experience) is to lay off the fried food and anything involving desserts and pastry. Cut back on the beer too and if you do fancy a pint or so make sure its before 7 at night so you have time to burn off the calories before your metabolism slows down for the night.
The best thing is jsut plenty of exercise. If you jsut cut back on food and dont work out your bodies reaction is to think food is short and convert more of the food into fat.
Swimming, jogging and cycling are the best for aerobic activity. I wouldnt bother with the gym as a) Membership costs are pretty high these days b) You get bored of it. c) People have a tendancy not to push themselves.
If you go out for a ride and get tired then hey you still have to get back home whereas in the gym you jsut stop and get off.
Stop eating pies and get some freakin exercise then you won't be crippling the rest of us with your health bills when you turn 50.