A new study shows that the most powerful tools which can be used to lose weight may be as close as a pen and paper.

Researchers found out that keeping a food diary helps you eat fewer calories and lose more weight. The research will be published next month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Researchers involved in the study found out that the people who kept food diaries lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t, said lead author Jack Hollis, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.

"The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost," Hollis said.

During the research, the participants also turned their daily food diaries at weekly support group meetings, followed a heart-healthy DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), and exercised for at least 30 minutes a day.

The study included nearly 1,700 participants who dropped an average of 13 pounds.

The study was funded by the National Heat, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health and recruited a large number of African Americans – nearly 44%. Researchers found out that most of the African American participants lost at least nine pounds of weight, higher than recorded in other studies.

Considering the fact that Americans spend more than $35 billion a year on weight-loss products (more than the GDP of most developing countries), the discovery could be very good news for those seeking chipper and more efficient ways for a healthier life.