Marta was dismayed. After 20 months of maintaining her weight loss with relative ease, she had gone off track and had gained back five pounds.

"I wouldn't mind it so much if I had decided in advance to eat more," she said, "but that's not what happened. A couple of weeks ago, we had company for the weekend. I was fine at first, but then everyone else was eating and drinking so much, that I wanted to, too. I just stopped using my usual weekend plan. So by Monday morning, I had gained two pounds. I felt really bad about that, and I was okay for the next couple of days. But then, for some reason, I started snacking too much after dinner. I'd have that old sabotaging thought, ‘I've eaten too much. I might as well start again tomorrow.' I didn't go way overboard the way I used to, but I did eat more than usual for the rest of that week and this week, like larger portions at meals, bread and butter at dinner, and extra snacks at night. I keep promising myself that I'm going to get back in control but I can't seem to do it. My weight is up and I'm afraid I'll just keep gaining more."