For comparison, I recently went from 132kg (290lbs) to 111kg (245lbs) in the last 5 months without counting calories, on a very-low-protein, ultra-high-fat diet.
Re. the abs, I've never had them but my impression is they're hidden by basically the last 5lbs of fat you'll lose. So nothing and then they're suddenly there makes sense. Congrats!
Back when i doing boxing in early 2ps I was as low as 69kg, and still didn't see the full 6-pack. Go figure....
My collegue went from 115kg to 85kg some time ago. I know it's a different kind of game. Took a year for him. He was younger, in his late 20s, so running was still an option for him. I am In my late 30s, and traumas accumulated so i had to accept that calorie counting was the only remaining option.
Also, I'd suggest still working from a high-protein approach. You get to keep you muscle, especially if you do some reasonable amount of training.
I wrote earlier that reforming my diet to protein-centric, 1800-2000cal a day + 15k steps walking + some lightweight kettlebell work was enough to get things going. I used myfitnespal, really useful.
It wasn't too hard, to be honest, as I am relatively used to training. For some ppl even walking 10k a day is a challenge.