NOTE: this phased approach to weight loss will probably not get you super lean. However, it will almost definitely cause you to lose quite a bit of weight without the hunger, and will avoid extreme approaches that tend to lead to burnout.
Intro: a well-controlled study from the NIH demonstrated that people who consume highly-processed diets naturally eat 500 calories more/gain 1 lb per week, and when they are switched to unprocessed diets, they naturally eat 500 calories few/lose 1 lb per week. This points to the efficacy of focusing on diet quality rather than diet quantity. Of course, diet quantity is what determines actual fat loss, but improving diet quality can help you naturally eat less, losing weight without much hunger.
Step 1 (GAINING AWARENESS): track your food for 1-2 weeks. No need to track calories, and no need to change anything that you eat. Just write down each food you eat and a rough portion size estimate.
Step 2 (ADDING IN): add in healthy foods to each meal/snack. There isn't something magical about healthy foods, but obviously have nutrient density and they have been demonstrated to fill you up quicker than processed foods, helping you avoid overeating. Examples of things to consume more of: eggs, green vegetables, salmon/tuna, lean meats, boiled potatoes, beans/legumes, oats, fruit, etc. Just commit to adding in these healthy foods before you eat other stuff, naturally crowding out the unhealthy foods that promote overeating and excess calorie intake. Continue this step for as many weeks as you continue to lose weight.
Step 3 (SWAPPING OUT): Assuming you've plateaued on Step 2, look back at your log and find the empty calories. These are the food sources that add a lot of calories into your diet without providing an equal amount of satiety or fullness. Obvious examples: soda, sweets/desserts, even healthy sources of liquid calories (e.g. potentially milk/milk replacements, "fresh" juices, protein shakes, etc.), chips, and highly processed meats. You don't need to completely eliminate every source of empty calories, but the longer you can stick to an unprocessed plate, the easier it will be on your tastebuds to adjust and truly enjoy these healthier foods. If you're drinking soda, switch to a 0-calorie one, or switch to La Croix, or simply drink lots more water. It will take a while for this to not taste terrible for many people. If you're eating cereal, switch to rolled oats. If you're eating sweets, switch to fruit.
Step 4 (CONSCIOUS CALORIC REDUCTION): If you plateaued on Step 3 and are not yet at your goal weight, it is likely time to do some conscious reduction in how much you eat, not simply working on what you eat. The most straightfoward method is to download a calorie-tracking app like FatSecret or MFP and start logging your calories, trying to get in a ~500 cal deficit. This will work. However, other people really find the whole concept distasteful and prefer to enter a negative calorie balance as a side effect. For these people, the following may help you achieve a deficit:
(1) Intermittent fasting
There's nothing necessarily magical about the fasting, but by shortening your eating window, your opportunity to consume calories decreases, and you will likely naturally eat less.
(2) Eliminate snacking
There's nothing evil about snacks either, but there have been studies done that demonstrate that snacking outside of your chosen meals ultimately can lead to weight gain (independent of the quality of the snacks). Example: you eat 2100 calories a day between 3 700 calorie meals. However, if you get hungry between lunch and dinner and eat a 300 calorie snack, you might assume your dinner calories will decrease because you recently ate. Unfortunately, you end up averaging out to 2200+ calories because you don't generally unconsciously compensate for the snack by eating a smaller dinner.
(3) Turbo-charging the adding-in
Assuming your diet is composed of mostly unprocessed foods that contribute to satiety, it might be time to bump it up a notch. Find the foods that bring you the most satiety and eat a lot more of that. For example, you might be eating peanut butter, which isn't necessarily unhealthy, but it's not that filling for the number of calories in it. So, instead of a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, add in some eggs. This is essentially just a more extreme version of step 2.
This is not for everyone, and is certainly not necessary.
Summary: these tips probably sound stupid, and that's because they're largely very simple. And yet, they're also very effective.
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