So my whole life i was never ugly ugly. I was usually a shortish chubby-ish, nice guy. Maybe kind of cute in a way, but really nothing spectacular.

In high school i did grow out my hair and when i was not looking very chubby, i guess i was kind of ok, had really nice hair ( think jim morrison).

college- same deal.

but

i would as i said be very heavy sometimes, really bad acne that started at 18 and had it for 7 years or so.

yet, despite my pretty low self esteem (naturally and from said physical set backs) and all the other things that made me not look so great.

I would get hit on or have a girl interested in me 1-3 times a year (from decent looking girls).

Fast forward to now- made marked improvements last 3-4 years

I'm 29, have a good enough job, i dress 100x better, and despite always having low self esteem I genuinely think I look better than I ever have.

Yet, nothing.

I go out and I have almost no IOI's from most girls. No obvious getting hit on anymore.

What's even weirder than that is not only do i feel I feel i look better, but other guys I think look worse, AND women don't look as good either. Two things you would think would IMPROVE my odds even more.

I don't understand what it is. I know that when you're young you're just sort of around girls more and so it becomes more likely, but it just doesn't seem like enough to justify the change. Is it also the political and sexual environment changes the last decade or so?

I thought about maybe i'm wrong, maybe i actually just am not better looking, maybe my opinion of my dress and physical attractiveness was overinflated, but no.

My best friend is a good looking in shape black man married to a good looking latino guy. And i bring this up because they live in the city near me and i will go to parties they throw (including their wedding) which naturally has a ton of gay guys (and attractive women).

The gays guys appreciate physical beauty and style and my knowledge of fashion, music, literature. Seriously they all say "dude you are really attractive". One even tried to rape blow me one night and I quickly got the hell out of there.

Yet almost nothing from the 5's,6's,7's, 8's girls there.

All this literally seems to be in line with my getting myself together a bit more and getting in better shape, mentally and physically.

this is a big problem for me as i'm already bummed about how boring and uninteresting most girls are, I want to interact with a bunch in hopes of finding a few decent ones, but the hit to my fledgling attempt to restore a decent self esteem is getting screwed up by this odd change i've noticed.

edit: idk i've never been a big get my picture taken guy but here are three pics of me all from last 18 months

https://imgur.com/a/iUBAn