are people THAT naive??...... yes they are

Sorry this may sound mean but to me it's just laziness. If drinking shakes and juice really worked then everyone would be thin now wouldn't we?? lol It's impossible to live your life off of liquid diets. Instead of with approcaching her about counting calories you should tell her about living a healthy lifestyle. Even if she doesn't want to count everything she should know that eating a balanced diet with exercise is the best way to go if you want to maintain substantial weight loss. There is no quick fix. And it would frustrate me too if someone kept shooting me down after much success doing it the proper way :-)

I happen to disagree with the OP on this one. You stated that your friend said counting calories didn't work for her. Why would she say it doesn't work if she has never tried it? How do you know she never tried it? Counting calories works just like any fad diet. Its a manual restriction of calories where your mind/behavior overrides your body's desire for food. It just so happens that you limit calories instead of food groups, but you are limiting your intake nonetheless.

The only diet that works is the one that doesn't drive the person crazy and become too tedious for them to maintain. If counting calories is a pain for someone, then its not going to work and they will fall off the wagon eventually. For some people eating whole foods or low-carb is a more effective strategy than calorie restriction because they are more satiating and less calorie dense and of course less need to track food intake. For others they like to eat anything they want, but restrict calories. Just depends on the person and hormones also play a role as to what foods they respond better to. The OP's friend needs to just keep looking for the right diet strategy that works for her.

I'd suggest the rapid fat loss handbook by lyle mcdonald. It's an extreme diet, and not something that should be sustained long term, but as far as hardcore diets go it's the safest I've seen (I'm doing a modification of it now, I relaxed the rules a bit so I could maintain it for a longer period of time. 33 pounds in a month and a half thus far). It does involve counting calories but it's a relatively simple approach. It's also very blunt, and accounts for cheat meals and transitioning back to a more normal diet afterwards. She would likely see large upfront losses as well to keep her encouraged. Take it with a grain of salt, but I am coming from the experience of someone who can do extreme diets very easily but more moderate, healthy diets are much harder for me.