Search Results: losing a guy friend

So I’ve been single for pretty much my entire life. And I’m in my mid twenties. I didn’t think I was attractive until I lost weight and took an interest in improving my physical appearance. However, I’m complimented on how I look, before and after losing weight, which tells me that I can’t be that ugly if people give me decent feedback. When I told a few people that I was single (after they asked), it either resulted in: a) they’re assuming I’m picky and am single by choice or b) feeling sorry for me and blaming the guys for not noticing me. I don't know what to say. I don’t have any friends so going out and meeting people is out of the question. Wherever I work, most of the men are married. Which is why I have a dating profile to possibly meet people but it hasn’t worked out well. The guys that message me I don’t like and some that seemed hopeful generally end up either no longer messaging me or I lose interest. What’s the issue here?

At first, he came on strong and was really flirty. But it made me nervous cos i thought he was just leading me on or joking etc. I didn't think he was being serious.
Now all he does is stare at me. But he's staring at me less and less... and now he's paying less attention to me.
All i wanna do is say hi to him and start a conversation, but he looks unnaproachable most of the time and is friendly with everyone else, except me. I thought he was losing interest, but he still gets jealous when i talk to other guys and asks people about me.
What should i do? I don't want to look like a desperate idiot!!
Should i just be friendly to him and say hi? Or smile? I don't want to make it too obvious that i fancy him.
By the way, he stares at my bum a lot! So maybe he was just interested in a hook up?

I also thought he still likes his ex girlfriend!

But sometimes he talks about me to his friends - i hear him saying my name, but it might be bad stuff, so I'm NOT gonna assume he likes me, cos thats stupid.

There's sort of four options:

Option 1: My best friend has been flirting with me a ton lately and I don't know if he's just lonely or if he actually likes me. I like him but have been holding back in fear of losing our friendship, so option 1 is to ask him to be a romantic sort of date.

Option 2: Ask my best friend, but just as friends.

Option 3: I ask a different guy friend to be a platonic date.

Option 4: I go completely dateless and just go with some girl friends. (I would personally prefer to have a date but I will still put this on here)

He doesn't make an effort to talk to me anymore, but sometimes i still catch him checking me out and staring at me / watching me when i talk to other men and listening to my conversations.
(But he doesn't stare at me as much as he used to)

I say "u alright" when i see him at the gym
(^^ a casual greeting in England)

And he just bluntly gives me one word answers with a straight, bored face and says "yeah".
He's louder and more friendly towards his friends than he is towards me. :/

~ so i started ignoring him a bit and being colder / less friendly towards him too,
but is this the right thing to do?