There's some good advice here already about focusing on strength training and being careful about high-glycemic-index foods (simple starches and sugars) that spike your insulin and cause the body to store fat. I think these are key practices when it comes to changing body composition.

The "caloric deficit" approach, aside from its obvious detrimental effects when training, hinges on an often-unstated assumption that 100% of the calories we take in are absorbed. But we now know this is not always the case. There have been many studies indicating that the gut microbiome -- which is unique to each individual -- has tremendous variability in its effectiveness at breaking down and absorbing calories from food. TL;DR is that the microbiome does a surprising amount of the work of digestion, breaking complex molecules down into simpler ones that can be absorbed by the intestines, and that people with more body fat tend to have a microbiome that is more efficient at breaking down and extracting nutrients from food, whereas leaner peoples' microbiomes do a poorer job of this and therefore leave more calories behind to be eliminated.

In recent years a number of experiments have shown that transplanting gut flora from lean people to fatter people causes them to lose weight, among other health benefits. I doubt you would want to do this, the process is pretty disgusting.

But don't ignore your microbiome. Incorporating some raw and fermented foods (think kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, etc.) into your diet is an easy change that can pay big dividends in addition to the other changes suggested here.