people aren't stupid, the amount of calories in food is mostly readily available and it isn't hard to avoid the cases where you can't tell. the problem is that

people aren't stupid, the amount of calories in food is mostly readily available and it isn't hard to avoid the cases where you can't tell. the problem is that getting fat is virtually a one way process without medical intervention. there is a reason that almost no fat people ever reach a healthy weight again, and almost none of the ones that do stay that way for more than 5 years. of course you can lose the weight by eating less, and also water is wet. the problem is that once you become fat, you have the appetite of a fat person. forever. of course you can diet and exercise your way back to a healthy weight, but you will be hungry forever. except for a exceptionally small percentage of outliers, humans cannot psychologically keep up that level of constant discomfort and discipline indefinitely when the solution is in the fridge just a few steps away. imagine telling an heroin addict to "just do less heroin" when their house is full of heroin, people are constantly doing heroin around them, and they have no choice but to take small amounts of heroin three times a day or they die. except for a very small handful of people who are wired differently, it just isn't something you can reasonably expect a person to achieve.