Calorie restriction didn't work, low carb did. Eating 6 small meals a day didn't work, fasting did. A lot of cardio didn't work, a mixture of lifting and cardio did. I guess you get the idea.
The sequence of things I tries was something like this: * get active, i.e start using stairs instead of lifts, walk more, sit less (worked) * cut sugar altogether(worked) * start going to gym with a program mixing cardio and lifts(worked) * limit calories(didn't work, couldn't control hunger) * lower carb consumption(worked) * cardio focused workout(didn't work; went back to my original program) * eat 6 small meals(didn't work, made no difference) * fasting(worked)
It was effectively a journey of discovering what my body and mind reacts to.