There are a 1000 different claims of "All you have to do is XYZ." Many are from armchair dieticians, armchair weight lifters, and skinny SOB's who have never had to deal with this struggle for real. Dig up studies for yourself to see what works, and what does not. Most schemes work under controlled circumstances, and not in the real world. If there was a magic pill out there we would not be in the bad shape we are.
Dedicate a minimum of 1 hour a day to brisk exercise, preferably 2 hours. There is a consistent theme for folks who have shed pounds and kept them off, and this is one of them, Biking, running, weights, swimming, or brisk walking are all great, as long as you are getting your heart rate up and are building some muscles. Exercise E-V-E-R-Y day you are not sick or dead. It helps to get a workout buddy if you can, or to have some medium term goals like a big bike ride, big hike, or running race to keep you focused rather than feeling like you are just trudging along. I can easily motivate to run or bike 7.5 miles to work, but running 5 miles in my neighborhood only to end at my house feels pointless and torturous (your mileage may vary). Dedicate time to exercise, rather than expecting it to magically happen. Put it on your schedule and make it happen.
Track your calories and have a heart to heart with yourself and your food journal every week about your eating habits. Just logging your food will decrease mindless eating. Adding a salad to dinner does not mitigate a weekly half gallon of ice cream, but our brains will happily help you think that it does. Halving your portions while cranking up the exercise will lead to late night snacking and soul crushing hunger pangs. Ideally you will cut down the processed foods and simple starches/sugars, and ratchet up the veggies rather than just depriving yourself. Pack your own lunch, don't eat out. Don't eat within a couple hours of bedtime. Find healthy foods/recipes you can replace your old stand-by meals with and stick with them (or swap in similarly healthy ones as needed).
Stay off the scale. It can be an emotional roller coaster. Concentrate on eating right while maintaining a healthy and sustainable workout schedule. If you feel healthier and have more energy, your actual weight will matter much less and will go down slowly and steadily. Hitting your weight while being starved, sickly, and constantly exhausted is a recipe for failure and reversion.
The calorie-in-calorie-out folks are repeating a well debunked common sense fairy tale. Your body will shut its self down to maintain weight if you simply starve yourself, this often results in yo-yo dieting and an even higher set-point in the end. Eat well, eat enough to be sated, get regular exercise, and ignore the scale.