But there’s a large elephant in the room that’s not being addressed, and concerns a much larger “demographic”. Why the fat gain takes place to begin with…

Apart from gluttony (which sometimes is just a side effect), fat production and storage is a toxin disposal mechanism that gets triggered when the main “waste” disposal organs (liver, kidneys and intestine) cannot function properly or they are unable to cope with large amounts of it. Anybody that has excess fat that’s not caused by extra large calorie intake has health issues.

Aside from case-by-case situations (infections/cancers/narcotics and alcohol abuse/constant stress/etc.), the main cause is nutrition. Specifically, (in the age of food adulteration) food intolerance. You need to be a wealthy person to afford proper intolerance tests. Especially for gluten, since it requires SI incisions (skin poking and stool tests are useless and always test negative, regardless how severe your gluten intolerance is).

In my mid twenties my gluten intolerance became symptomatic and I gained 30+ kg in ~18 months (from 70 to ~102kg at 1.8 height). I became aware of the cause at some point, but couldn’t do anything about it due to poverty. By late thirties I developed celiac (which is much worse than you read about it) and was forced to eliminate gluten from my diet. In the first three weeks I lost 5kg, despite the fact that I replaced bread with white rice (which is a higher calorie intake), and after nine months I lost 24kg. No other factors involved apart from gluten elimination.

My sister (asymptomatic gluten intolerant, like most people) decided to also drop gluten from her diet and only eats on occasion. She lost 15Kg in one year (from 67 to 52kg at 1.7 height) while also increasing calorie intake.

You need to improve your health in order to stop adding fat and the existing one will be consumed naturally. For that, test for serious health problems and food intolerance. Except gluten, since whatever test you’re likely to do (apart from SI incision) will always result negative. For gluten, the only sure way to test is to eliminate it from your diet for 2-3 months (if you can afford that). Food intolerance elimination has consequences far beyond weight loss, the most obvious being an improved quality of life.