I have just recently made the successful change to proper caloric intake even with an active triathlete exercise regimen. I posted about it a before recently, but will recap since it’s working so well for me.
I am never overweight - not rail-thin, but never more than 5 lbs of race weight, or 7-10 lbs over ‘ideal’ (think too skinny) race weight. 6-pack abs, good muscle definition, zero love handles, etc. As such, losing weight has always been hard, as there’s not a lot of excess there. I also eat fairly well - minimal packaged foods, mostly vegetables, sparing meats, and whole grains.
My key:
COUNT CALORIES. I know, sounds like a total pain in the rear, but once you start, after a few days it’s shockingly easy (esp with an app like LoseIt!) and holds you accountable.
I used the simple caloric estimate per Fink’s Ironfit book of 11kcal per pound of current bodyweight should lead to approximately -500kcal/week, for -0.5lbs per week of weight loss. You have to add exercise calories back to that total - it’s also very easy to estimate workout calories once you do it a few times.
I’ve been doing this for 8 weeks now, and have loss 4 legit pounds on the dot. (Not just water weight - this is after full hydration and salt.) Minimal hunger pangs, and you are fully able to crank out all your workouts, even the big ones, without being deficient on calories and bonking out.
Even more importantly, you lose that awful guilt of eating food that you get otherwise if you use the simpleminded “just eat less” approach with no goal in mind. I did that for awhile, and invariably I’d keep at it for 3, even 4 weeks, then overdo it some days leading to awful hunger and awful workouts, and then the inevitable binge eat to compensate. With this method, there is NO binge eating needed - you feel satistifed all the time, which makes the ‘diet’ work.
I highly recommend this method. It’s easy, effective, and for data geeks like triathletes, works very well as motivation to stay on track when you log the calories.