I would say it's not necessarily our stupidity that is our captor, but our self indulgence. Personally, my waistline seems to be expanding - this is not (necessarily) because I'm stupid, but more likely to do with the fact that I like bacon so darn much that I refuse to give it up.
You're right, I agree. It's a combination of indulgence, narcissism, and stupidity; different people may fall more into some of these than others. And luckily for us, we have a lot of smart people who think different, so I don't think we're doomed either.
If my experience (which includes shedding thirty pounds in the last month and a half) is any guide, the trick is not to swear off bacon entirely; indeed, try to do that and you're just setting yourself up for a discipline-vitiating failure, as I'm sure you have discovered.
Quick fixes don't work. What works is making smaller changes pervasively, in an incremental fashion. Trying to fix everything all at once, by dint of flailing, unsustainable effort, guarantees that you will fail, and end up feeling worse about yourself. Identifying one practicable improvement at a time, and making a solid habit of it before you go on to the next, is the way to a sustainably healthier life.
For example: Weight loss depends on burning more calories than you take in. I started by investing in a Basis band, and spent a week both building the habit of wearing it and getting baseline data on how many calories I burn in a day.
Then I started changing my relationship with food; where before I would eat to repletion at every meal, I instead now eat only enough to quell the pangs of hunger somewhat, and a
healthier diet besides.
Once I had that pretty well in hand, I started logging everything I eat and counting calories, which has two benefits: since I'm writing everything down, there's a
permanent record when I cheat, and the calorie log quantifies the daily difference between calories in and calories out. (Lately I'm running at a deficit of ca. 1500/day, which probably sounds agonizing -- but, having built the habits I describe, it's actually quite sustainable.)
Then I started logging my daily weight, too. That helps quantify the improvement I'm making, and also makes
it easier to identify particularly effective or ineffective behaviors -- for example, I'm planning to add a weekly fasting day to my routine, and without the weight data, I'd have no way to tell whether doing so is worthwhile. (And it is powerfully motivating to chart weight over date and see that line sloping down!)
Then I bought a bike and added it to my daily routine. Time
was, when I needed a pack of smokes or a couple cans of cat food, I'd get in my car and burn gas to go get them. Now I get on my bike and burn calories instead -- and it's not just cardio, either; every hill I go up strengthens my thigh muscles, and Baltimore is a hilly town. The Basis band logs my rides for me, but I'd do so by hand if I needed to.
Then I started doing a few sit-ups in the morning and a few more in the evening, and a few push-ups as well, so as not to neglect my arm or abdominal muscles. I log these, too, in order to keep track of what I've done or haven't; I haven't done much with that data yet, but it'll be handy when the time comes, fifty pounds or so hence, to change focus from losing weight per se, to maintaining fitness while building lean muscle.
Looking over all I've just written, I probably come
off slightly nutty on the subject, I think. But the point is precisely that I'm not, nor need I be; by focusing on one thing at a time, and establishing it as a habit before going on to the next, I've been able to make my life healthier in a durable and effective way, without at any point inflicting on myself the need for superhuman reserves of self-discipline.
It's not that I don't indulge, either! I eat bacon and barbecue and everything else I love. But I don't do that every day, or even most days, but rather maybe once in a couple of weeks -- and that way, not only do I lose weight at a steady clip, but when I do indulge, it's a real treat, more enjoyable by its very rarity than if I ate more sumptuously every day.
If you're inclined to improve your own waistline, I hope my experience is of use to you. Good luck!
