Don't Hit The Rock! Don't Hit The Rock!

DON'T HIT THE ROCK! DON'T HIT THE ROCK!

"Target fixation is a process by which the brain is focused so intently on an observed object that awareness of other obstacles or hazards can diminish. Also, in an avoidance scenario, the observer can become so fixated on the target that they will forget to take the necessary action to avoid it, thus colliding with the object. This is a common issue for motorcyclists and mountain bikers. A motorcycle or bicycle will tend to go where the rider is looking; if the rider is overly focused on an obstacle, the cycle can collide with that object simply because of the rider's focus on it, even though the rider is ostensibly trying to avoid it.
The term target fixation was used in World War II fighter-bomber pilot training to describe pilots flying into targets during a strafing or bombing run.<sup>[1]
Wikipedia describes this phenomenon, a phenomenon that my husband experienced all too well last weekend when he was out mountain biking with a friend.  He had waited at a wider spot on the trail so that his friend could catch up with him, and had been standing near his bike, holding on to it.  When his friend caught up, they chatted for a few moments, and as they remounted their bicycles, my husband noted a large boulder to the side in the path, easy to maneuver around.
As my husband began to move forward, he kept his eye on the boulder, so as to avoid it.  Unfortunately, he experienced this common phenomenon called "target fixation" and rammed head on with his front tire smack dab into the center of the boulder, the very thing he was concentrating so hard on avoiding.  He fell off his bike.  He was a little embarrassed.

How many times have we focused SO intently on NOT DOING SOMETHING that we just end up running smack dab into DOING THE VERY THING we were concentrating on avoiding?
Yep.  Target fixation.
World War II Bombers, in bombing training, would do the same thing.  They would fixate on their target, the thing they wanted to destroy, and instead of flying AROUND the target, they ended up flying right INTO the target.  That was the first time it was observed and quantified.
Dr. A talks much about focusing on what we WANT, not what we DON'T want.  Focusing on what we DON'T want, or on the behavior we DON'T want to do anymore, simply causes us to run right in to repeating it, again and again.
So, it there hope that we can accomplish this thing called "Optimal Health?"  Is there hope that we can truly change our habits of disease and replace them with habits of health?
YES YES and YES!
The first step, though, is knowing WHAT WE WANT.  Until we know WHAT WE WANT we can't focus on it, can we?  It remains this misty apparition somewhere off in the distance of future-land, and we continue "hoping" that "someday" we might "get healthy".
Quantify it.  Figure out WHAT YOU WANT.  If you don't KNOW what YOU will look like healthy or what your LIFE will look like when you ARE healthy, then borrow some inspiration from other people who have had the success you are looking for.
I did that in my own journey.  You see, since I had never truly been a fit and healthy person for any length of time, I had no frame of reference for MYSELF as to what that might look like were I to BE fit and healthy.  So, I looked around me.  I found some "heroes" so to speak, people who had done exactly what I wanted to do, and I studied them.  Not in a stalking kind of creepy way, LOL, but I gleaned what I knew about their success from what they themselves had said or written.
Then I mimicked it.  You see, I'm not interested in being a Yo-Yo-er anymore, so why in the world would I try to become an expert on WHY I yo-yo, and why would I want to focus on NOT yo-yoing?  That will only cause me TO yo-yo.  And I'm done forever with that.
So, I picked a few people for inspiration.  I studied what they had done to be successful.  I mimicked it.  And guess what, now I AM successful.  I AM "one of those people", because I did what they did.  I didn't reinvent the wheel, or go modifying the plan because I'm so smart and know so much about nutrition.
Guess what these people did?  I'm thinking of one person in particular, who is living presently in Ultra-Health and has been for YEARS since losing weight with TSFL. 
She stuck to the plan.  She stuck to the 5&1 Plan, and did not modify or deviate.  Consistently. 
OK, I could do that, I thought to myself! 
Action #1:  Stick to the 5&1 Plan, no matter how I feel or what I think I know.
What else did she do? 
She began adding the Habits of Health as described in Dr. A's Habits of Health. 
Action #2:  Begin reading, with intention, Dr. A's Habits of Health and implementing those healthy habits.
She remained accountable to her Health Coach on a weekly basis.
Action #3:  Stay accountable personally, one-on-one, with my Health Coach. 
She waited until she was through transition and in to maintenance before stepping up her exercise, she followed the exercise guidelines of moderate exercise no more than 45 minutes per day on the 5&1.  In fact, she told me once that she merely did the eliptical trainer for 30 minutes 3-4 times per week while on the 5&1.  Cool!  I don't have to kill myself with exercise, in fact it is counter productive to do so!  Check!
People say that "weight loss" is 90% what you eat and 10% how much you move.  I disagree.  I believe, from my own experience, that it is 100% what you eat, and add movement TO that for best results.  I say this through my own experience, knowing that only if I was eating ON PLAN 100% would I have a prayer of success.  The movement that I added was of benefit, but only if I had NAILED the EATING PART.
Anyway, these are some things I have learned.  I am now rambling so let me sum up:
DON'T focus on what you DON'T want.
FIND out what you DO want, and FOCUS ON THAT.
If you don't KNOW what that looks like, look around for inspiration and then DO WHAT THOSE PEOPLE DID to find success.
(You will likely find, as I did, that "those people" didn't reinvent the wheel, they followed the proven TSFL System that is already in place and available for our use.)
Rinse and Repeat!</sup>