Personally, I don't find writing down what I eat to be helpful. It just puts it there on paper/screen for my diet mind to judge in illogical ways. What I have found helpful is to to check in with how I'm feeling before, during, and after eating. I liked having the Intuitive Eating Hunger Discovery Scale as a photo on my phone and using it as a quick reference for a few days. It's easy to lose the subtleties of hunger and fullness if you're not in that habit of taking a couple of seconds to notice it. Once the noticing becomes second nature, there's no need to rate, document, or second guess it. You know when you're getting hungry. You know when you're completely satisfied. For me, ending meals feeling "light" was always trouble. It kept me eating more food more often. Starting meals feeling a little hungry was much more effective and a better indicator of what my body comp was doing. Get pleasantly hungry. Eat until you're completely satisfied. Repeat. It's beautifully simple, but it takes practice, just like anything else.
Intuitive eating does become completely effortless, easier than food journaling, calorie counting, or nutrition software ever was. I don't even think about it anymore, I just eat when I'm hungry and know when I'm satisfied, but it took some attention and practice up front to get there. It has to be learned before it can be automatic. Or sometimes I think all the diet nonsense and mindless overeating has to be UNlearned. Intuitive eating is what's left when you strip the other stuff away.