My experience aligns with yours. Words like "discipline" come off as moralistic. I know very disciplined people who struggle to lose weight. As someone who lost 40 lbs through long term fixation on calorie counting and exercise, I find it confusing. However when I look in the mirror and consider what I do to maintain my weight I realize that I'm the outlier. It is unrealistic to expect others to adopt my odd lifestyle.
The one time in my adult life I was in my healthy weight range. I got there that way. The maintenance consumed all my waking thoughts and energy. I decided that slightly overweight with a life was better. Staying just slightly overweight is easy for me with a few hours a week of exercise and excluding foods that I find addicting entirely. For me that is baked goods, grains, nuts, and dairy. So the staples of the western diet.
