Could someone with some expertise in this area answer a simple question?

As recently as a month or so ago, the NY Times ran an article stating that the reason weight loss is so difficult is still a mystery, and that nobody really knows the mechanisms behind successful weight loss.

So here is the 2 step question:

1. Research conclusively shows that whatever internal physiological mechanisms are occurring when someone takes Ozempic, the reason people taking this drug lose weight is because it helps them maintain a calorie deficit (in short; it's not the internal mechanisms that cause the weight loss but the calorie deficit)

2. So doesn't this lead to the obvious conclusion: Despite all the controversy about different diets (particularly the keto idea that you can eat the same amount of calories but different foods will have different effects on weight loss) we now have a world wide experiment involving millions of people definitively establishing that a true calorie deficit is the undeniable means to successful weight loss.

TYPICAL OBJECTIONS TO THIS:

1. "yeah, but who wants to be hungry all the time - only Ozempic worked for me" - I never know how to respond to this as it does not even address the question, so I'll leave that to someone else.

2. "I ate fewer calories and didn't lose weight until I used Ozempic." This one is simple to answer. In virtually every careful controlled study where people initially provided anecdotes of having eaten fewer calories while failing to lose weight, it turns out they were actually eating at least 20% more calories than they had estimated.

So, is it not the case that we finally have proof: If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit? And as far as hunger, the various mechanisms associated with hunger are highly susceptible to a wide variety of mental and emotional states. The problem is - in order to change those states, you have to make a sustained effort to learn a number of mind-body practices. It's easier for most to take a drug.