If you’re like me, you’ve probably considered counting the calories of what you eat everyday once or twice. The numbers are right there on the package, so how hard could it be to just get an app on my phone where I can just type them in and figure it out? The average intake is around 2,000 calories for everyone. Some people need more and some need less, but this number is what you’ll usually see. Dieting generally says that instead of eating 2,000 calories, you should eat a bit less, which can work, but that’s not the point of this. Instead, let me explain why what you’ve read doesn’t really matter.

For the most part, caloric intake isn’t a huge deal. Like everything else you consume, calories are simply part of the food and are something your body needs anyway. Unless you’re eating six bowls of ice cream everyday, you probably don’t need to worry about counting your calories. A healthy diet of three meals and snacking on simple things throughout your day, isn’t going to make you gain a lot of weight, or make you lose any either.

If you’re trying to lose weight, or get healthy, there are plenty of other things that you should be thinking about besides just your calories. Cholesterol and sodium intake can often be large contributing factors to weight gain. Too much salt in your diet can often play a higher role in body health than calories can. Instead of counting your calories, try figuring out what you’re eating and what you aren’t eating. Having a healthy and balanced diet can often fix the issue, rather than something based through the calories you’re consuming.

I took advanced biology in high school, and though I never aced it, I still learned quite a bit. One of the topics was about the fact that there are good and bad types of calories. Calories come in three main kinds: carbs, fats, and proteins. Proteins can help you build muscle, and are a bit denser, whereas carbs are a bit easier to get rid of. They can give you energy quickly and be burned off easily, but can sit around if they aren’t used up. Fats, however, are the kinds of calories you want to avoid, because they are harder to use up, and can sit and store in your body. Instead of counting calories as a whole, consider eating things that can balance these three, and make sure you’re getting the right kind of calories, rather than how many.

Now, I’m not a biology major, and I’m no nutritionist, but I have enough knowledge to tell you that calories aren’t as important as you think they are, despite how complex they can be. I’m very active because I choose to be, and I’m lucky that my parents cook all my meals, thus keeping them balanced with vegetables and proteins for me to stay healthy. However, I also wear a Fitbit. I like to be active and monitor my activity to see how exercise is affecting my body. I’m working towards goals that this device helps me track, and it’s a steady reminder to keep working towards what I’m trying to accomplish. My Fitbit also has the option to help me track calories if I choose to.

What I’ve learned in the past couple of weeks of messing with this function is that calories are a lot less important than you might think. Fitbit designs its counter on an input and output basis. Burning calories is a natural thing that we do throughout the day, but can also be fueled with walking and moving about more than usual. So, if I eat a protein bar worth 200 calories, that takes away from the 500 I’ve burned so far that day, and leaves me with 300 more. But if I’m moving around, even just walking around my house, for two hours before I snack again, I’ve burnt more calories. At this point, my total is back up to 500, and allows me to eat more. With this in mind, you can realize that for every calorie you put in, you’re still burning them off, so the necessity of counting them is meaningless, simply because your body is naturally using up what you give it.

Calories are fuel for your body, plain and simple. Counting them makes you obsessive, paranoid, and can often take away from what your body really needs. Instead of worrying so much about your calories, give your body healthy energy to make it the best it can be. Eating healthy, exercising, and taking care of yourself is going to make you feel your best. Let your body function how it is designed to, and I promise you will feel one hundred times better.