Café

I think you need a combination of both. As always, fitness is a very diverse subject with everyone being their own experts (and have different experiences cos of variations in...everything) so take this with a grain of salt.

In my mind, I group fitness/dieting activities into 3 major categories:

1. Eat better- eat less carbs but prevent hunger pangs and binge eating by making sure you replace the lost carbs with other foods like veggies, meat, tofu, eggs. When eating out, the most practical way to do is to eat mixed rice shops. The chinese ones, malay ones, the indian ones, wtv. In my experience, balanced meals usually results in better mood and less cravings for sweets/chips/snacks. That's even better, cos you don't need to expend willpower to stop yourself from stuffing your face with kerepek ubi pedas.

2. Exercise to build muscle- muscle uses more energy even when idling (when you're sleeping, sitting, watching TV, etc). So building some additional muscle throughout will make you use more energy and draw down some of those fat reserves. A mix of body weight exercises is not difficult, just a bit of many things, consistently. Gradually tone up those muscles.

3. Exercise to burn calories. Running, swimming, etc. You need to keep your heart rate within a range so either buy a fitness watch or learn to quickly measure you pulse on your neck.