Food is great. The calories aren’t. I finally got so sick of counting calories that I decided to craft a list of all the times calories DON’T count towards your diet.

1. When the food is delicious
2. When the food is expensive
3. When the food is cheap and you're broke
4. When you have a coupon
5. When you have a coupon that’s about to expire
6. When someone brings doughnuts to the office
7. When someone offers you free food
8. Taco Tuesday
9. Thirsty Thursday
10. When it’s the weekend
11. When you’re on your period
12. When you want a treat
13. When life is too hard
14. When people are being shitty
15. When the food is a cupcake
16. When the food is Mexican
17. When the food is something fried
18. When the food is Chick-fil-a
19. When you’re with your significant other’s parents
20. When you’re with your significant other
21. When you’re eating sushi off your partner’s abs
22. When you’re on a date
23. When you’re dieting and it’s just been too hard
24. When the world is being mean
25. When it’s been a hard day
26. When you reeeeaalllyy want that cookie
27. When you eat the food really fast
28. When no one is around
29. When you’re simply done
30. When you literally can’t even
31. When it’s cheat day
32. When it’s your third cheat day of the week
33. When you’re out and about
34. When you're watching TV
35. When someone else buys you the food
36. When the food is one someone else's plate
37. When you're in a foreign country
38. When it's dark outside
39. When it's hot outside
40. When it's Christmas and you're mom is baking cookies
41. When the food is comfort food
42. When the food is homemade
43. When the food is Southern food
44. When there's cornbread involved
45. When you drink a diet coke alongside of your meal
46. When you realize that calories are not the only thing that matters when trying to eat healthy.

In all seriousness, calories are important to monitor, but there is so much more to nutrition than simply counting them. Making sure you're getting the right nutrients, eating fruits and veggies, limiting fatty foods - there's so much more to a healthy diet than simply counting calories. If you want to eat a cookie while dieting, eat a cookie! But be willing to stop at one cookie, and make sure you've actually been eating well during the day.