Yes, taking one eating event (meal) at a time and just concentrating on making that one plan friendly.

Never experienced a disaster since starting WW. My only real WL set back was related to meds I was taking. I recall climbing out of that hole. But it was so long ago I don't recall much other than it happened.

OK. So here's a guy that seems to claim this is easy. Go scratch. No. I had WW missteps. Math errors, bad plans, mistakes, loss of concentration at bad times, but nothing I'm going to define as a disaster. Why?

I wrote it down. If you decide to track, then the program is tracking. Its something to do. What happens is that people eat too many points and then decide to abandon the tracker. That's 2 separate things. Eating too many points is not a reason not to write it down. Actually the opposite is true. The best thing you can do to help yourself is write down your mistakes. And it is not possible to not make mistakes.

Some weeks I ate too much, too many points. But tracking kept me in check. In the big picture 10 or 25 or even 65 extra points in a week only makes for a bad WI. But if I abandoned the tracker I'm back to 100 point days. Keep writing.

Thank God I haven't fallen off the proverbial horse, this time.

All my other "successful" attempts at WW ended with me thinking "I got this!" Then gently dismounting the horse by choice. Then gaining it all back plus more. I got to 202# in 1988 but never got close to that since. I'm AFRAID to get off or fall off the WW horse. My last WI was 226.6 and I can see that riding this horse is a good thing!

My only tip would be that it is much easier to stay on the horse then climbing back on time after time.

My suggestions would be set small goals, one day at a time and remember there is no Finish Line.

Perhaps one needs to define disaster. Because I've had times where my efforts have been less than successful. Much less. If I deem those 'disasters' I've already set myself up for the extra challenge of the 'reboot'.

In reality 'disaster' is almost always a judgment, not an assessment. By its nature, it's a harsh judgment and, in this scenario, a self-judgment. Here's the point: spending time in self-judgment distracts from effective self-assessment. You need the latter to correct course. I'm hard pressed to think of when, if ever, you need the former. At least when it comes to managing weight.

Well, is it one disaster or one disaster after another? There's a difference.

Besides what's mentioned above by many vets more seasoned than me, consider a couple other things. I'm sorry she's not here much these days, but I always appreciated @MurpleCat 's suggestion of the two lists. Is there some reason that maybe losing weight isn't or should not be a priority for now? Maybe writing out in paper and pencil the pros and cons will show some insight to the disaster.

Second, (hand in hand with tracking), consider NOT taking the weekends off. If from your lists you know you've decided losing weight is a priority, it's counter-productive to give yourself a pass just because it's Saturday (or Friday or Sunday). It's another day for you to make a choice, actually a goodly series of them. As the experienced GOADies have said, the plan works if you work it. It sorta works if you sorta work it. It sure-as-hell doesn't work if you don't work it at all.

after ten years of being a ww member, I have had to admit to myself that i cannot do this alone, and that i need the constant reminders & reinforcement that i get from goad and meetings, so even when i drift away from the plan with the expected results / gain, if i keep getting the reinforcement, i have been able to rediscover my motivation eventually.
I remember an episode of Marcus Welby from my misspent youth where Robert Young was counselling a patient that weight loss is a war that never truly ends but you have to just keep fighting! This has been true for me my entire adult life.
I have evolved in my thinking to get to the point where I do not think of "disasters" but rather as times when I am less focused. The weight gains that come when I am less focused like when I am on vacations or around the holidays are usually replaced by times when I am more focused like new years resolutions. The idea that I am ever going to be the person who can truly just do the right or healthy thing without being reminded by goad and meetings has been replaced by acceptance of who I am and what I have to do in order to be a healthier person.

Usually the very next day I get back on the horse. Most of the time it would have been a one meal day or one meal fling for the day like Christmas or Thanksgiving or something like that. The 2nd way is making sure I am accountable to myself such as the accountability challenge. This challenge puts my previous day back in the spotlight.