Find a Weight-Loss Buddy Online

It's not easy being a guy, especially because we're not the type to bare our feelings, admit our weaknesses and rally around others like women seem to do with ease. That's a shame, since it's that kind of one-on-one support that can make all the difference when it comes to losing weight.

Having a weight-loss partner has been shown to play a huge role in helping you stick with a fitness and nutrition plan. But asking another guy for support isn't always the easiest thing to do (after all, it could warrant a few sarcastic comments and digs from other guys if you're not careful).

That's why finding a weight-loss buddy partner online can be an easier solution for men to pull off. In fact, here's even better news: Not only will finding a weight-loss buddy online spare you from feeling embarrassed asking your friends and co-workers, but according to a classic University of Vermont study, researchers discovered that people who were paired off with an online weight-loss buddy actually lost more weight than others who met face-to-face in a support group. That means less shame and more weight loss!

To give you a head start, we looked at one popular online support system called WeightLossBuddy.com, a site that connects people throughout the U.S. and Canada looking for support when losing weight and getting in shape. The site is free, and once you sign up (which takes a few minutes, maximum), you're on your way to browse the site for other members that share your interests, weight-loss goals, activities and more throughout North America (or within a certain radius of where you live).

According to our tester, finding like-minded guys looking to lend support or share fitness and diet tips was fairly easy. And, because the site offers a calorie counter, recipes, a way to track your diet, meal planning and about 50 other interesting and helpful features, there's a nice database to turn to that can also help you find more creative ways to burn away those extra pounds.

Here's the best part, though: We went to the source to find out exactly how many real guys are actually on the site (since many weight-loss support sites tend to cater mostly to women). There are over 67,000 men just like you who want to lose weight (roughly 20 percent of the site's members), which isn't a bad place to start if you could use a boost in the "you can do it" department.

To learn more about the site, go to WeightLossBuddy.com. And for even more helpful tips on picking a weight-loss partner that will get you the best results, check out these tips on picking a good workout buddy.

Fitness expert Myatt Murphy is the author of the best-selling books, The Body You Want in the Time You Have, Ultimate Dumbbell Guide and co-author of The Men's Health Gym Bible and Face It & Fix It: A Three-Step Plan to Break Free from Denial and Discover the Life You Deserve.