Just eat less and exercise more. People who obsess on calories are just avoiding the whole question. There is no way that you won’t lose weight if you expend more fuel than you load on.
I used to think that too. After all, it was so common sense.
I posted my story elsewhere but I'll summarize it here. In 2003, I lost over 100 pounds on a low carb diet in just over 7 months. I did this by walking first 5 miles a day and then eventually 10 miles a day. On weekends, I would take extended 10+ mile hikes in the woods. I was in fantastic shape and I attributed my weight loss to exercise more than my low carb diet.
So once I started bring carbs back into my diet, I found that I had to exercise harder to keep up. Eventually I started to put the pounds back on even as I exercised more. Now I kept the calories about the same, but was now having more pasta, rice and breads and less steak, eggs and cheese. I thought that was a more "balanced and healthy" diet as I could not believe eating mostly meat and high-fat foods was good for the long run.
Well last November, I realized that I had put all my pre-2003 weight back on and then some. I now have to lose 120 pounds. I've lost 36 pounds in just over 10 weeks. It's almost scary how fast the pounds are dropping off just by changing what I eat. Yes, I still exercise but I think that's just a small part of it. And with the snowstorm we got last week, I haven't been out for my daily walks at all. Yet I've dropped 3.5 pounds since Saturday.