*Updated In 2024*

Understanding the importance of balancing our healthy behaviors and routines with what brings us pleasure in life is imperative to weight loss success. It doesn’t matter how much weight we manage to lose, if the way we do it doesn’t allow us to enjoy the foods and activities we love, we will be miserable trying to keep it off.

Having a appetizers and a cocktail or two are one of the simple pleasures Darin and I truly enjoy sharing! Just after the pandemic hit, when I was reevaluating my behaviors in relationship to my weight, my tracker glaringly showed this routine was sending me way over my Points budget. Wawawaaaaaa!

At first, my plan was to cut it out and “get back on track”, but even the thought of telling Darin no more Happy Hour made me sad!! It’s not just about the food and some wine. The value of our happy hour ritual is even more about what it represents to us. It’s our time to relax, recap our week, talk about our upcoming plans for the weekend and check in with each other in general. It’s the carrot at the end of the stick for both of us after a long week. To say I couldn’t participate anymore because I needed to “get on track” brought back all kinds of feelings of guilt for being over weight and feelings of deprivation and not being able to do what I really wanted to do because of my “weight issue”.

After a couple of failed attempts at not snack during our Happy Hour, I decided to reexamine other options that were more “down stream” and didn’t involve will power. Rather than cut the HAPPY out of our Hour, how could I rework my program to be able to fit it in? If it held that much importance to me, I needed to make it a priority when it came investing my Points budget. The shift involved two steps. One, rework the appetizers or snacks to lower Point options and two, plan and track it ahead of time so I could enjoy it to the fullest, knowing I already accounted for the Points to “pay” for it. I sound like the Suze Orman of WW…LOL😂, but guess what? IT WORKS!

For now, at this stage in my life, we’ve established a routine that checks all the boxes! Darin and I are still really enjoying our Friday night ritual AND I stay within my Points budget, allowing me to get to and stay at a weight that’s healthy for me.

This is one of our Friday night spreads⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️. I mix it up with different variations of “snacky” type foods each week. I’ll share more of our Happy Hour favorite food ideas in posts to come incase they might be helpful for you too! Starting with the shrimp cocktail and moving clockwise:

Shrimp Cocktail = 0 SmartPoints

Cocktail sauce with horseradish (3-4 tablespoons) = 1 SmartPoint

WW Hummus & Seasalt Chip (1/2 bag) = 1 Smartpoint

Carrots = 0

Terra’s Lemon Garlic Zero SmartPoint Hummus = 0 Smartpoints

Air popcorn spritzed with olive oil &

Kernel Season’s Cheddar Popcorn Seasoning (1 cup) = 1 SmartPoint

Terra’s French Onion Dip = 0

Flatbread chips = 1

Cheese quesadillas (2 of them)= 3

Salsa = 0

Terra’s Cheeseball Dip (SEE RECIPE BELOW)= 1

Reduced fat Wheat thins (8 crackers) = 2

The two of us split the snacks in the photo, so half of all the snacks shown total 10 SmartPoints on both the Purple Plan as well as the Blue Plan. On Green it’s about 13 SmartPoints. Add wine SmartPoints….4 Smartpoints per 5 ounce glass, to taste😁 Or should I say to budget!

This is a lot of food for 10 SmartPoints and I barely used any vegetables or fruit in this example! Add in sliced cucumbers, red pepper strips, a few bunches of grapes and it REALLY bulks it up! It’s a fun Friday night spin on dinner and it takes us through the evening while filling us up.

 

All is well❤️

Terra Ayres,

Wellness Coach🌺