After reading about ZoneDiet.com's survey that determined most people aren't very trusting of their diet buddies, I was curious to see what That's Fit readers thought. So I asked you in a poll about your own diet buddies. Here's what you revealed:

• 73.1% of you said that you would trust your diet partner to be honest. That's good news. The support of a trusted friend or family member can really help you stick to your weight loss plans.
  
• 77.8% of you admit that you would like to lose more weight than your diet partner. Well, I can't say I blame you. Weight loss isn't a competition (well, not unless you're on The Biggest Loser), but we can't be magnanimous all the time, can we?

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Weight loss isn't easy. So when you're trying to lose those stubborn pounds, it helps to have someone you can confide in and someone you can count on to bolster your resolve when it weakens. In turn, you can do the same for your pal.

But ZoneDiet.com conducted a survey that shows there's a little distrust among diet buddies. Here are just a few of the things they uncovered:

• Two-thirds of those surveyed believe their diet buddy is lying about what they're eating.
• Over 60 percent would be unhappy if their diet buddy lost more weight than they did, but 70 percent say it would also make them unhappy if their buddy didn't lose any weight. (So we're OK if they lose some weight, but not if they beat us at our own game. Nice.)

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Rumor has it that come November, some of us start losing our fitness steam. I know. It's happening to me. Maybe it has something to do with the time change, the holidays, or the first sneezes of cold and flu season. Maybe it means we need to enlist a buddy to get our butts in gear. Not a bad idea.

Click here to find out what FitSugar has to say about this seasonal slump.

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When Fitsugar published these photos of Tori Spelling and hubby Dean McDermott working out together, I thought to myself, now, wouldn't that be nice to have your mate as your workout buddy? Then I thought about Jon and tried to imagine us working out together. For starters, Jon doesn't work out. He doesn't need to--he's a tradesman and unlike me he actually uses his muscles and burns calories at work. Also? We're both a bit competitive and it might ruin our relationship if we started getting athletic together. No, I'll stick to my present solo workout routine--If I want a workout buddy, I'll find a friend at a similar fitness level to me.

But even though it's not right for you, it might be the key to getting you--and your partner--in shape. There are plenty of exercises that are good for your body and your relationship. Want some ideas? Why not try ...

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Fitzness Fiends is a section devoted to you, the reader! We all have learned so much on our path to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! Fitzness Fiends are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect, some are not. All have health on the mind. Please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Lindsay Johnson

Age: 26

Occupation: Online Advertising Sales

How often do you exercise? Every day

What type of exercise do you do? Weight Training, Cardio, Spinning, Plyometrics

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? My iPod. My workout buddy, Lauren, texting me to get up to the gym. And knowing how good I will feel afterward.

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Want to know what professional trainers like me wish for, for Christmas? Sing along!

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, one water-based heavy bag.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two boxing gloves.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three ropes for jumping.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, four Body Buggs.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, five Versa Steps.

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One of the best things you can do if you're serious about losing weight is enlisting a friend to take the journey with you. It helps to have someone to motivate you, and also someone you are accountable to in case you feel like taking a nosedive off the wagon. But if you are recruiting a weight-loss buddy, make sure you choose wisely because that buddy can mean the difference between success and failure. Here are some tips from Fitsugar:

• Pick someone who is fair and honest but not downright mean
• Choose someone who has your best interests in mind, who won't enjoy seeing you fail and begrudge you if you do well
• Find someone with similar goals. If you want to lose 100 lbs and your friend wants to lose 10, it might not work.
  
• Enlist someone who you see regularly, but not someone that you live with
• Choose someone who likes the same rewards as you. If your friend is a guy, he's probably not going to be motivated by the chance to shop for that perfect little black dress.
  

What do you look for in a workout friend?

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If the words "jumpstart your fitness" sound like something that applies to you then what you probably need is renewed motivation. Motivation is the gas that keeps your workout plan moving -- and although it's cheaper than the gas that moves your car (it's free!) the trade-off is that it's much harder to come by. There's no one way to motivate everybody -- heck, there's not even one way that will always work for motivating one same person. It's all about your mood, and your current situation. What helped you drop that last 5 pounds two summers ago may not mean anything to you at all this year, and maybe you've got other things in your life on top of it all that you didn't have to deal with before, like children or a new job.

It's tricky to figure out what's going to trip your trigger and get you moving again, especially when it feels like you've been dieting and exercising forever and you just want to rest. Remembering that being healthy and getting in shape is about making permanent lifestyle changes can help, and if losing weight feels like true exhausting 'work' to you then maybe you need to make some changes on how you're going about it. Not to say it will always be a totally easy piece of cake, but you shouldn't be miserable either.

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Having a workout buddy has been proven to help people stick with their fitness plans, but what if you've looked around and there's nobody in your area that works? Geography may not be a problem anymore! Even if your best friend recently moved across the country, you can still jog together!

The Jogging Over a Distance system works like this: you each wear an identical headset equipped with GPS and Bluetooth technology, a mobile phone connection, and a wireless modem. The headset sends information back and forth to a miniature computer that you keep in a backpack or something close. Then, as each person runs the tiny computer uses the GPS to determine not only how fast you're running, but how that compares to your jogging partner miles away. As you both talk over the mobile phone, the computer calculates and makes it sound like your voices are coming either from behind (if they're running slower), in front (if they're running faster), or right beside you (if they're running at the same pace).

I sounds neat, but I don't know that this would really work well for me only because I don't like to talk all the time when I'm out power-walking. But for people who do, this could be really cool!


Via FitSugar

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As a kickboxer and full time fitness trainer of almost 20 years I've become a huge fan of the jump rope. The benefits of jumping rope are infinite: it offers an unbelievable cardiovascular workout which offer the propensity to burn a ton of calories, can increase speed and explosiveness, it's inexpensive, light weight, travels easily. The perfect piece of equipment! I remember long ago when I began fighting, my trainer gave me a rope and told me to 'jump'. Well, I was terrible at it and struggled for a long time to become good at it. Why? I had very little guidance on the skill of jumping rope. My trainer wasn't trying to be mean, he just didn't know the techniques of teaching this skill either.

I think since we all jumped rope as a child, it's assumed we should all just be able to do it now. If you've tried it as an adult, you may have experienced the constant rope kicking, stopping, reshuffling, whipping of the legs, and frustration. How defeating! For years, I have been having my clients jump rope with only the guidance I could give from my experience. Some have had great success, some have had major struggles. Frustrating for me too.

So Friday at the fitness conference I attended, I ran into a man named Buddy Lee. He's a former Olympic wrestler and master of all there is about jumping rope. I instantly approached him because I'm in LOVE with the jump rope. I hoped he'd be able to provide the direction I needed to improve my personal skills and help me break it down for my beginners. Buddy did not disappoint.

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