I've lost 29lbs in 4 months just by calorie counting, haven't always been on it 100% and have had meals out and alcohol going way over calories on the odd occasion and 4 weeks of that I wasn't really being good at all, so only lost 3lbs that month, if I hadn't of done that I probably could have lost 35lbs'ish.
I just use myfitnesspal to log what Im eating, its been working for me. I haven't done anything drastic, just made a few healthier choices, like new potato's instead of chips, adding salad to meals so the higher calorie stuff is reduced but salad or veg is added so it still fills me up and just cut out snacking between meals.