Shifting weight is about everything discussed above.

However, the most successful strategy my partner and I have tried is to remove bread from our diets. We eat loads of rice now though.
We already didn't eat cake, biscuits, pastires etc. (except for the very occasional treat).

He did it for a few months and after two had dropped 8kgs.
I have been doing it for a month and have dropped 5kgs so far. My goal is another 14kgs.

Of course the drawback of losing weight this quickly is that you don't have the energy reserves you had. So now he has plateued and is maintaining his weight, he has found his power and strength are back - plus he can stay with the top cyclists in our club on hills.
He did maintain his cycling distances (about 4-500km per week) but didn't do intense rides, just distances. now he is building the intense rides into his distances again.

I am finding I don't have the endurance in races, but thats ok. Already I am climbing a tad faster, and that is my the reason for me wanting to lose weight.