Countless people have started and failed on exercise and nutrition plans. Almost all of them have something in common. They had a good reason for their failure. Or at least in their minds it was a good reason. This my friends is rationalization.

Rationalization is a pretty simple concept really. What it boils down to is making untrue arguments for excusing unacceptable behavior. As an example if you stole a paint brush from a huge hardware store and justified it to yourself by thinking “they factor this type of thing into the price” or ” this huge corporation makes so much money they can afford to lose a little here and there” you are rationalizing something you know is wrong to yourself.

As with many other aspects of life, rationalization is probably the single biggest roadblock in a person’s way when he or she is trying to lose fat, add muscle, get healthy, or increase performance. We always seem to have a good reason to skip a workout or eat something we know is bad for us. We’re not lying to others about why we’re doing these negative things; we’re lying to ourselves.

Once you learn to recognize rationalization it is very hard to ignore it. You can actually catch yourself doing it all the time. When you challenge a rationalization it will crumble under your own scrutiny. Then you are on your way to achieving real results.

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