Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Final Weekly Review & Overall Project Reflection

1. My SMART goal was: I will eat only 4 servings (serving = 3 ounces) of meat per week. I achieved my smart goal this week!
2. This week a big success of mine was that I was able to eat better on the weekend. I chose to make all of my meals this weekend, which allowed me for a little leeway when it came to the Monday and Tuesday. Though this was a success it was hard for me to make sure that I ate at home for each meal this weekend. It is so much easier grabbing something to go from subway for example. It does take more time to pick and choose things without meat and to make them at home.
3. This weekend I felt really good that I was able to make all of my meals at home and make good choices when it came to meat meal alternatives. It feels great to know that you can stick to a plan after you've been trying hard.
4. This week I learned that with a little extra effort and a little extra time devoted to my goal that I really can achieve many things! If by doing a little extra it makes your time you put into achieving your goal a little easier!
5. I am going to keep trying to keep my meat intake low and hopefully once I get a little more used to it and it becomes more of a habit I can try to reduce it even more!

Review of Entire Process:

1. For most of the process my SMART goal was: I will eat only 4 servings (serving = 3 ounces) of meat per week for the duration of the process. I did change my goal once to 5 servings instead of 4 during Thanksgiving week, which helped me out a lot.
2. Things that helped me be successful were looking up new recipes on the internet to find new meat alternatives and ideas. Another thing was really focusing and being conscious of what I was eating in order to not eat too many meals with meat. Some challenges I faced were on the weekends when I was on the go a lot it was hard for me to avoid fastfood restaurants which are all meat products basically. I also had a hard time with going out to sit down restaurants because I am a picky eater and most things I like involve meat. In the future, I will try new things in order to see if I actually like them at restaurants. Otherwise, I will avoid meat as much as I can if I know I'm going to be going out that week.
3. I benefitted from this project because I was able to find new meal ideas that were healthy and also did not impact the enviroment to negatively. I learned that with a little time and effort that I can really achieve any goal that I set for myself, even if I do think it is hard! I learned about behavior change that you must be conscious about what you are trying to achieve and keep yourself honest to attain your goals.
4. People in my blog groups have said that they have really enjoyed my posts and have tried to incorporate these changes into their lives as well. Also, the environmental impact I am making on the world drastically changed because I am eating less animal products!
5. I would like to continue this behavior as much as I can. I am very pleased with how I have done and would like to continue to improve on this.
6. One big recommendation I have for people is to look up new recipes. This was very beneficial for me because I was able to incorporate healthy ideas while meating my goal. You can't change your behavior by eating the same things!

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