It is the literal feeling of incredible hunger. That is not a normal thing to expect people to live with. The average person does not feel constantly hungry and thus not the urge to overeat.
Most obese people became obese in childhood. In obese people, especially those from childhood that were forced to always clean their plate, signaling pathways for satiation tend to stop working, so consuming a "normal" amount of food becomes difficult. Furthermore, mechanisms for hunger in obesity function very similarly to mechanisms for cocaine or alcohol addiction.
Drugs like Ozempic finally allow their biological signals for "you've had enough food" to actually work, so obese people can lose weight because they feel satiated like normal people do.
FWIW I have lost weight both ways - 80lbs through sheer will, and 25lbs through Mounjaro. I vastly prefer the second. The former is the hardest thing I have ever done (or will likely ever do) in my life. It was harder than getting into a top college, harder than anything relating to my career, harder than literally any other endeavor I've taken. It is definitely unreasonable to expect the average person to expend so much extreme mental effort when alternatives exist to become healthy.
Most obese people became obese in childhood. In obese people, especially those from childhood that were forced to always clean their plate, signaling pathways for satiation tend to stop working, so consuming a "normal" amount of food becomes difficult. Furthermore, mechanisms for hunger in obesity function very similarly to mechanisms for cocaine or alcohol addiction.
Drugs like Ozempic finally allow their biological signals for "you've had enough food" to actually work, so obese people can lose weight because they feel satiated like normal people do.
FWIW I have lost weight both ways - 80lbs through sheer will, and 25lbs through Mounjaro. I vastly prefer the second. The former is the hardest thing I have ever done (or will likely ever do) in my life. It was harder than getting into a top college, harder than anything relating to my career, harder than literally any other endeavor I've taken. It is definitely unreasonable to expect the average person to expend so much extreme mental effort when alternatives exist to become healthy.