The profits of writing a food diary/counting calories

Since the summer is getting closer and closer (it's almost here actually), for the past three months I have been trying quite hard to get fitter. What I began with was sports: jogging, exercising, running, walking etc. Then, after some time, I did a research, looking for tips and tricks on the internet. And then I found this picture.

And that is where it got really interesting. It wasn't all about sports anymore. As time passed, more and more people were starting to live, eat healthier. This sort of became a new trend, so there were plenty of tips and articles I found everywhere even without any special effort: Facebook, Weheartit, Twitter, and so on. So I made a lot of research on healthy lifestyle and balanced diet (if you are interested in what I found, you just have to ask for it, and I'll write more blog posts about that), gathered everything in my computer and started changing my eating habits.  I bought much more vegetables and fruits, changed white bread and rice into their wholegrain equivalents. I also read that if I wanted not only to prevent weight growth, but to lose some, I had to reduce my calorie consumption.from 2000 a day to at least 1500. But how do I know how much I consume? There was a way to do it. I started a calorie journal. Every day, I made a schedule, trying to eat at the same time every day, four times a day, following the balanced diet tips and, of course, counting calories I have consumed. What made it a lot easier were different websites for calorie counting, such as http://www.caloriegallery.com. So, I went for 1500 calories a day and wrote the journal for about a month. Then, quite recently, I stopped doing it, because there was no need to do it anymore. My body got used to it and I am pretty confident I do not consume more than that. Of course, I can never be sure, but I eat way less than I used to before, and I'm happy with it. I still jog and exercise daily, and so far it is working :) So, my advice is to keep the food journal in the beginning and to just stop when you feel it's not so relevant to keep note of what you eat anymore. This way you will get used to eating regularly and less, and, what is more, you will have evidence to be proud of :)