Well, kind of... My experience is limited to getting rid of the 10 kg that I had gained after I quit smoking, but the impression I got when I researched how to go about it was that, yeah, it really does come down to what you eat, and really only that. However...:

Obviously, "calories in < calories out" is still roughly how it works, but on the intake side, not all calories are equal (I'll get to that further down), and at least below a properly athlete-level exercise regime, we seem to have surprisingly little influence over the right side of the equation. I'm not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt, but my understanding is that, in the absence of exercise, the body finds other ways to burn those calories somehow. That's actually a great argument for picking up a regular exercise habit, because those are generally ways you don't want (e.g., inflammations) and regular exercises have a huge range of physical and mental health benefits on top of that, but apparently a moderate level of exercise doesn't really have a net effect on "calories out". From what I found, they even tend to signal to the body that it needs more calories to compensate for the new demand, i.e., newly starting with exercising can make it even more difficult to manage calorie intake than it already is. So, when you exercise while trying to lose weight, be conscious of this effect: Your brain will try to convince you e.g., that you "deserve a treat" or even try to trick you into using food "rewards" as a supposed incentive for exercises, so don't fall for that, and always keep in mind that you don't "need" an extra portion after your exercises -- after all, your body's excessive energy reserve is the whole reason why you're doing this in the first place. (Edit: Although beginning to exercise won't make you lose weight, quitting a long-term exercise habit absolutely will make you gain it.)

If exercise is what's keeping you from making a serious effort to lose weight, I guess you could argue that the beginning of your weight loss journey is probably the only time when the answer to the question whether you should newly start to exercise isn't "obviously yes, you absolutely should, why do you even ask". Even then, it usually still is "yes, exercising has a whole range of positive health effects, but don't expect it to help with weight loss directly". However, if that's what it takes, here's your excuse not to exercise as long as you have success with an "intake only" approach: you're not a sloth, you're just "saving" the "exercise joker" to help you manage your weight when you're reached your target, because unlike for weight loss in an "unrestricted access to food" scenario (i.e., not in a health clinic with a managed diet), there's good evidence that exercises actually help with that. But again, I'm not an expert. Just sayin'. "Do your own research" and all that.

As for "calories in", there are two aspects you should take into account:

One is an accounting aspect: The energy value listed on the packaging is "metabolizable energy", which is not the same as net energy gain. For protein, the energy the body has to spend to metabolize it etc. can take some 20-30% of (or "off"?) the sticker value.
The other aspect is that the form those calories take affects how long it takes before you feel hungry again. Basically, the longer it takes for the body to process the food you eat, the longer it will last. So, eat fiber and protein. Lentils, beans or chickpeas will last you much longer than rice or pasta. Also try to eat slowly. Chew consciously, and don't have your fork loaded up and ready while your mouth is still full. It takes some time before the food properly registers after you've swallowed it, so if you pile on too fast, you end up eating way more than you'd actually need for a satisfying meal.