Everyone has their own unique progression story to tell so I figured I'll just share some of the things I did to get from 210 lbs to 170 lbs. Hopefully, you'll find some of this info helpful even if your goal isn't exactly the same as mine.
1. Tracked protein to make sure I was getting at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight (this was the only macro that I calculated).
2. Reduced overall calories mainly from carbs (not because carbs make you fat)
3. Carbs mainly came from cream of wheat, white rice, white bread, veggies, and fruits. I guess white rice and bread aren't so bad after all (no thanks to broscience).
4. Fats mainly came from my protein food sources, olive oil, and fish oil. Occasional peanut butter and varies nuts.
5. Proteins mainly came from chicken, beef, eggs, milk, and protein powder.
6. Supplements included protein powder, creatine monohydrate, probiotics, Xtend BCAA (not necessary but I use it to mask the taste of my caffeine tabs and I feel that the citrulline malate gives me a better pump), caffeine tablets, glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, fish oil.
7. I trained Monday (pushing), Wednesday (pulling), and Friday (lower). About 1.5-2 hours each session.
8. Used progressive overload. Either trying to increase load or reps for at least one compound exercise each week.
9. The majority of my exercises are basic compound movements (squats, bench, deadlifts, pullups, dips, pushups, barbell rows).
10. I didn't really started seeing my abs pop out until I started doing weighted crunches. Isometric ab exercises has it's place but it does very little for abdominal hyperthrophy.
11. The only structured cardio I did was my 5-10 minute warm prior to my lifting. I feel that traditional long steady state cardio is absolutely not needed to get leaner. 10 reps of heavy squats or 40 reps of dips makes for good cardio in my opinion.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'm definitely not in the same level of leanness as a competitive bodybuilder but I think I did well for someone who just wanted to get leaner without logging everything that I ate.