4 ways to make buddy dieting work

Tap into apps:Kari Sweeney, 31, of Sun Prairie, WI, above, lost 38 pounds earlier this year when she teamed up with three coworkers for an office-wide weight-loss challenge. They shared their daily food diaries with the health and exercise app MyFitnessPal (a Good Housekeeping Research Institute fave), which also let them see everyone's workouts. "It's an easy way to help motivate one another in real time," she says. "If someone's not filling in her food diary, you can call or text or just stop by to ask what's going on."Other meizitang slimming soft gel apps — and their accompanying websites — that help foster "friendly" dieting include Fitocracy, SparkPeople, Weight Loss Buddy, Meetup (here you can find or create a local walking group, for example), and Exercise Friends.

Meet up to move:Teaming up for exercise has a bunch of benefits. In a MyFitnessPal poll of 2,220 users, 65% said doing so made exercise more fun, 50% said they got a better workout that way, and 55% said it made them more likely to show up. Anne and Diane (who moved back to Virginia in 2012) take exercise classes together and even started a running club at their local YMCA. Kari and her coworkers would sometimes work out twice in a day — once for themselves, and a second time to support a colleague who was having trouble doing it.

Share food strategies:Kari and her team of dieters brought healthy meals to work to share instead of going out for lunch at their favorite nearby spots. "I made chili with beans and quinoa, a new grain for me meizi pills that's high in protein," she says. "Now, when we do go out, it's for the occasional special lunch at Chipotle, and I get half of my burrito boxed to go."

Don't stop:"Maintenance is even more challenging than losing the pounds, because you have to keep doing it every day," Anne says. "I need Diane more than ever now, and she needs me, too. Our weight fluctuates — that's normal. We support each other so we can keep making better choices every day."