I knew a beautiful young woman who preferred overweight guys because she enjoyed snuggling up to them. Some women do like bigger men. A big factor is personality. If you can make a girl laugh or engage her in good conversations, then she'll start to be attracted to you more. The main thing is stopping your negative view of yourself. Start loving who you are and that will begin to shine through. If you hate yourself, no woman is going to be attracted to you. It starts with your own attitude towards yourself.
@Richard65 See, I've managed to shed most of my overt self-loathing at this point. Really, my view of myself is... I'm not actually sure of the word for it. I'm OK with who I am and what I look like now. This post is more to do with not knowing how others perceive me, and since I don't really have a concept of what a "good looking" man even is, I'm stuck using phrases like "not ugly" - I just don't have the words for it.
@KiwiDan I've learned that looks aren't the complete package. Personality counts for a lot. A woman told me she wouldn't be interested in a handsome guy with a six pack if he was dull or lacked empathy or lacked a good sense of humour. Women are more psychological than men. They appreciate a good conversation and men who are willing to listen to them and understand them. Personality is a huge deal. You look fine, but try to engage them in conversation and don't be self conscious about how they think you look.
@Richard65 Oh. That makes sense. Maybe it's because I'm dull. I have one hobby I'm really into but don't really know how to talk about anything else for any length of time. Or how to start conversations effectively in an interesting way.
@KiwiDan yeah, that's likely your real issue, mate. You're only young, so work on that or find women interested in the subject you're interested in, whatever your hobby is. Is there a group dedicated to it you can join online? Everyone can find common ground, you just need to find a girl with a similar interest, or you need to develop more interests so you can engage with more women and widen your choices. It can be done. Don't give up on yourself.
