The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced sweeping new regulations Tuesday requiring all chain restaurants to post calorie counts "clearly and conspicuously" by November of next year. The regulations also extend to grocery stores, coffee shops, movie theaters, amusement parks, and other places where people eat — but there are plenty of places in Massachusetts that won't be affected by the new regulations.

Many national food outlets — including McDonald’s and Starbucks — already post calorie counts prominently on their menus. Studies have shown mixed results about whether that affects what consumers choose to eat.

Predictably, it depends who you ask. I caught up with Paul, from Brighton, outside an area McDonald’s.

"I don’t care," he said. "I’m tall and skinny so I just eat. It doesn’t bother me."

But for Steve, from Belmont, knowing does make a difference — to a point.

"If something tastes similar to something with more calories, I’ll choose that item, the one with less," he said.

The new regulations extend beyond just the menus at chain restaurants. The bars at Applebee’s or TGI Fridays will also have to list the calories in their drinks. Big movie theaters will have to reveal how many calories are packed into that bucket of buttered popcorn. And calories in prepared foods at Wegmans and Trader Joe’s will also have to be posted.

The National Restaurant Association applauded the new regulations, as did Steven Clark of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. Here’s part of their official statement:

"We’re pleased to see there will be uniform regulations of which operators will need to comply," the statement read. "Patchwork regulations that vary by city and state is very problematic for operators and customers."

Uniform? Sort of. The regulations apply only to chains with 20 or more locations. Roughly half of the restaurants in America don’t fit that bill — and even more than that here in the Bay State.

"We have a lot less chains than other parts of the country," Clark said. "We have a lot more independent operators than your Floridas, your Texas, your Californias. We have more independent restaurants."

That popcorn at the AMC Loews Boston Common? You’ll know the calorie count. But at the Coolidge Corner Theatre or the Brattle? Nope. Burritos at Chipotle? Yes. At Anna’s Taqueria or Boca Grande? Nope.

"That’s a problem for consumers because it means that half the restaurants that you want to eat in are still not going to tell you what the calories are," said Susan Roberts, senior scientist at the Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. "And I think it’s a basic human right, we should be able to know what we are eating."

In studies her team has published over the last three years, she’s discovered that at those independent restaurants in and around Boston, we are eating a lot of calories.

"Just the plate — not the appetizers, not the free breads, not the desserts, not the drinks — just that main course plate, on average, has about 1,300 calories, which is a whole day's calories for someone who is watching their weight.

Plates in her studies sometimes topped 3,000 calories. She called the results “shocking.” Still, Roberts applauds the FDA’s move, and believes it will bring a positive change in people’s eating habits.

"I hope that this is the first step and that they’re going to be taking it one step further when they see how helpful this is," she said.

But no matter how many steps the FDA takes, Clark points out that restaurants are only one front in the battle to curb obesity in America.

"Only a third of the calories consumed are actually consumed outside the home, so the other 2/3 of calories that customers consume are in the house," he said.

The new regulations don’t take effect until next year, And — at least for tomorrow — that’s a good thing. Whether you’re eating at home or heading out, I think we can all agree that on Thanksgiving, it’s perhaps best to stay blissfully unaware about the calorie count.