Healthy blogger Ali Hale suggests that an important key to maintaining or losing weight is knowing exactly what you're eating, and the way to do that: Write down everything you eat for a week. Hale lists five reasons why writing down everything you eat will change your habits. For example:

Within a day, you'll realize just how much you snack. A bag of chips mid-morning, a cookie from a colleague's stash, a few bits of candy... it all adds up. You might find you're eating more in snacks than in proper meals.

Apart from opening your eyes to the amount you're eating, the author suggests you'll discover that you're not eating enough fruits and veggies, you're drinking way too much soda, and you're probably spending far too much on junk food. It's not a new idea by any means, but if you haven't tried tracking your diet this way, it can be surprisingly eye-opening. If you're really committed to fitness, diet-plus-exercise is key, so check out the best tech tools and fitness plans to get in shape.