In 2014, Faunalytics — an organization that conducts research to support the animal advocacy movement — released a study that found that 84 percent of people who try vegetarianism lapse and go back to eating meat; one-third maintained the diet for three months or less, while about half stayed meat-free for less than one year.

“That’s a stat that shook a lot of people pretty hard,” Jo Anderson, a psychologist and Faunalytics’ research director, told me.

But a lot of good came out of it as well, because it gave researchers a better picture of reality — and a lot of data on what makes people lapse.

Much of it is rooted in social isolation or stigma. About 60 percent of former vegetarians said they didn’t like sticking out of the crowd, and a similar share said they didn’t see vegetarianism as part of their identity. Only about 15 percent said they were involved with a vegetarian community in some way.

Over a third reported that they were bored with their food options and/or were tempted to return to eating meat. And more than 40 percent felt it was too difficult to be “pure” with their vegetarian/vegan diet.

These are all somewhat easy to address. Since 2014, a lot of online vegetarian communities have sprung up (more on this below). Meanwhile, plant-based food options and quality have exploded in just the past few years, and so has the public conversation around eating less meat, rather than no meat, which could sidestep the “purity” problem that can make people feel socially stigmatized.

Just as the world has changed since 2014, so has our understanding of what helps people stay vegetarian. In 2019 and 2020, Anderson and her colleagues conducted a new study to figure out how to help people stick with their new diets. They surveyed 222 people for six months as they embarked on a vegetarian or vegan diet (though she assured me many of the lessons learned will also apply to those who are eating less meat).

They also reported that almost three-quarters of participants aiming to go vegetarian or vegan took weeks or months to ease into the diet. A little over half who intended to go vegetarian or vegan still ate a small amount of animal products after six months. To me, the takeaway here is that patience and imperfection are okay — maybe even helpful — in making a less-meat diet work for you.

Drawing on both her new research and more broadly from behavior change literature, Anderson has a few critical tips to help you maintain your new diet.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR NEW HABIT STICK

1. Find social support

Whether that means a friend or family member doing it with you — or, at the very least, friends and family members who support your choices.

It can also help to meet other people who care about this issue, and you can find them by volunteering for animal welfare or environmental organizations, or looking for a vegetarian group on Meetup. There are also robust online communities, like r/vegetarian and r/veganrecipes on Reddit, and Challenge 22, an organization that facilitates online community for new vegans and gives participants access to dietitians and mentors.

2. Choose a specific, achievable goal, especially if you’re reducing

The boundaries of vegetarianism and veganism are clear, but not so much with “eat less meat.” How much less meat? Which kinds of meat will you still eat and which won’t you? Will you cut out meat for particular days or meals?

Setting clear boundaries, like “vegan before 6 pm” or “weekday vegetarianism,” and boundaries that are achievable for you, is critical.

“Shaping your goals to match what you can reasonably achieve over a longer term, as opposed to the dream-big, pie-in-the-sky approach, is a lot more likely to succeed,” Anderson told me. “And you can come back in six months or a year and say, ‘I’m doing really well with this, I’m going to go one step further.’ That’s better than trying for something huge and giving up.”

And a big part of determining what’s achievable is thinking about what you can and can’t give up, at least at this point in time. For example, if you do want to go vegetarian but don’t want to stop eating, say, bacon, then go vegetarian except for bacon.

That might sound odd, but you’ll have about the same impact for animals and the environment as a vegetarian, and you’ll probably stick with it longer than if you tried to go completely vegetarian.

3. Try a wide range of new foods, and have realistic expectations

Reducing your meat intake or going vegetarian will probably spur you to try a lot of new cuisines and foods, some of which you may love and some not so much, so be sure to experiment with an open mind.

And experiment with a realistic mind — today’s plant-based meat, egg, and dairy products are better than ever, but they’re not perfect replicas of animal-based foods.

4. Plan for challenges, or even failure

One small study (200 participants) found that 77 percent of people maintained their New Year’s resolutions for one week, but only 19 percent kept them for two years.

One way to avoid that fate is to plan ahead for challenges or failure. Is it going to be your mother-in-law insisting you try her meatloaf that gets you, or perhaps chicken wings at the bar with friends?

“Everyone’s challenges are different,” Anderson says. “Thinking about them in advance and planning for them — what your reaction is going to be at the time — is really useful.”

Your reaction might be to say no to friends’ and family’s food offerings, or maybe those will be your exceptions. Deciding in advance means your response is planned, so you don’t necessarily have to think of it as failure.

I’ll add one more:

5. Go easy on yourself

Change is hard. If you have trouble sticking with a plan, guilt won’t help, but modifying your plan could.

A PARTING ASK

Well, dear reader, you’ve reached the end of our less-meat experiment. Now we want to hear from you. What did you like about this journey, and how could it be more useful? Take our short survey here to help us improve.

This isn’t goodbye. I’ll be in touch in a few weeks to check in and share a bonus newsletter. In the meantime, sign up for Vox’s Future Perfect newsletter and bookmark this page to stay up to date on all things related to animal welfare and the future of meat (and much more).

—Kenny Torrella