Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5! The Final Post!

My goal this week was to maintain my habit of eating fast food only once a week and to have pre-made healthy meals for convenience. I was able to keep myself to eating out only once and I did a good job of pre-making my meals.

I think I was as successful as I was because of how I did the previous week. I was rather disappointed in how poorly I did so I overcompensated this week to make up for it. Because of this diligence I found it rather easy to achieve all my goals for the week. I'm glad that I decided to pre-make meals this week because that really helped keep me on track.

I felt generally happy for the entire week, mostly due to how well I did with my goals. I learned that I can help myself succeed by planning my week out in head of time, and I know that I can psych myself into succeeding as well.

I plan to continue my habits as they currently are. I think I've found a good system that fits where I'm at in my life right now and I plan to maintain it.

MY PROJECT IN REVIEW

My original plan was to cut fast food down to only once a week and to eat one healthy meal everyday. My goal remained just about the same the entire time, the only modifications I added had to do with planning in head of time to insure success.

Things that helped me the most were writing down a schedule, limiting what I let myself buy for groceries, and positive self talk. I struggled at times mostly due to either the busyness of school, or from the pressures of friends to deviate. 

This project has helped me become a healthier eater and to get back on track for losing weight. I learned that I'm not as young as I used to be and losing weight is a lot harder than I remember it being. I also found it hard at first to deviate from my set patterns and behaviors, but as time went on things became easier and easier.

The environment benefited from me because I cut down on my consumption of processed foods which reek havik on the environment. Also, by improving my health I am able to be a role model for my friends to lose weight and eat healthier.

I plan to continue my current plan for as long as I can. If possible, I would like to eventually cut fast food completely out of my diet, though that might not be that easy to do anytime soon. The only advise I would give to anyone is to make sure you write down your plan of action. Without visual reminders it becomes far too easy to deviate from your set goals.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

For this eye opener I went to the website http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ to see what the threat level my cosmetics have on the environment. I don't use a whole lot of cosmetics, but I do use shampoo, condition, body wash, body spray, and deodorant. For this assignment I looked at my body wash, spray, and deodorant since they are all the same brand (Old Spice) and fragrance. Across the board all the products had a rating of 4-5, which means its on the low end of moderate safety. I tried to find ingredient listings but data was limited on these products. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised with how low the products scored on the safety scale. In particular I expected the body spray to have a much higher danger rating. That said, this assignment has made me think about how much I really need all of the products I use. When it comes down to it, all I really need is deodorant, shampoo, and conditioner. If I could cut out body wash and body spray I may be able to cut down on my environmental footprint.