One of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off… Well there actually is a bunch of them. But some people who are really struggling or who want to find a great way to stay motivated need to turn to this fat loss gem—Social Support. Or accountability.

It’s one of the biggest reasons why, or why not, people will lose the weight they want. It’s tough to stay motivated and have a laser focus on something that takes a long time to accomplish. And depending on how much weight you have to lose, it can take as little as several weeks up to years to lose all the weight that you want.

Social support can keep you honest and motivated. Who can give you social support? Friends, family, co-workers, people in authority positions, mentors, personal trainers teachers, kids, etc… It really doesn’t matter who it is, all that matters is that they want you to succeed as much as you do.

Nobody can really pinpoint why social support is so valuable in the weight loss game. But including family and friends in your plan has been proven highly effective. Your friends and family don’t have to be following the same plan you are to support you either. But someone who is encouraging you to eat healthy and exercise is someone that can truly help you on your road.

The other side of the road is those who don’t support you. These are the kinds of people who make fun of you while you eat your healthy meals and snack all the while stuffing junk down their throat—taunting you in a way. Stay away from these people as much as you can—it will only slow you down. You need to be in a positive environment as much as you can with positive people giving you encouragement. You have to stay driven to your goal.

With this being the age of the Internet there are also some good social support resources online. Obviously there are weight loss forums all over the Internet. These are great as you can post your entire food log and exercise log on them. People are very supportive on these forums as they are in a situation similar to yours.

Social sites are also very good accountability tool. One of the best to use is Twitter. It basically is a site you can tell everybody what your currently doing or what is on your mind. But it is also useful to post all your meals and workouts on it. Try and find some people already on Twitter or get a group of friends to follow you and keep you honest with your nutrition and workouts. Any slip-ups in either and you can bet your friends will be on your case, and in most cases people you don’t even know will add their 2 cents.

Another good site would be Facebook. With Twitter you can only post 140 characters worth, but with Facebook you can do a whole lot more. Even I have been known to make comments about current or former clients meals. So watch out!

There are a lot more social sites out there that you can use. Most of them have the ability to communicate easily amongst people and that’s what will keep you honest and motivated towards your goals. Give it a try! Find some people that you know will support you. It doesn’t have to be just about losing weight or your nutrition, it can be working out consistently, and giving all you effort each time. Let them know you want them on your case if you are slacking. If you do that I can guarantee you chances of succeeding will go up dramatically.