Meet woman
Talk to her.
Use basic social skills
Run a little game
Make plans
Get digits
Do the plans
Try to get her back to your place or hers
Escalate
Bang

Why do some of you guys make this a rocket science?

If the length and unnecessary details of your post is anything like how you communicate with women you are going to struggle.

You sound a bit like me when I was a frustrated young virgin.

I'll save you some time and mental anguish:

1) If you lead with being serious and commitment-minded, you're going to turn off and drive away most women (even the good ones)

2) the ones who will be interested in that are Epiphany Phase hobags who are sick of riding the Cock Carousel and want to "stick the landing", and high-earning, inexperienced guys like you are their favorite target. Bonus to them if you're as physically fit as you say.

3) relax and have fun and spin plates. If you really have read the sidebar, you'll recall HSP's Guide to Managing Your Bitches. There's some important shit near the beginning you need to reread and drill into your head.

4) you're more likely to find a worthy woman when you stop trying so hard to look for one and just relax and have fun. That's how it happened to me, and most other people I know.

5) you seem to be pedestalizing women too much. Even the decent ones are still just women.

I'm not super lean and ripped yet, but I have enough muscle mass where it's hard to go a week without getting complimented by random men in a store/gym or a friend group (not younger pretty girls sadly).

My guess: you have too much body fat. Men are impressed with muscles, women like muscles and low bodyfat. They go for slightly-ripped rather than "pudgy and muscley".

But while I make some pretty nice money, I am rather lonely.

You need to understand that women are the icing on the cake, they are not the solution to not having a cake.

More concretely: they won't make you less lonely. It can FEEL like you're less lonely, but then you are dependent on This One Special Girl.

You fix loneliness by having a diverse group of colleagues, friends and social life that suits you.

Now if by "lonely" you mean "horny" - then yes, women can help with that ;)

Most of my life right now is just gym, work, and cooking/grocery shopping. I have a few friends in the city, but they are either too busy with their own careers, or they are into partying and drinking, which really isn't my vibe. I am ready to shift gears and focus on meeting women.

Good.

Build your social life.

I am not 100% on board with spinning plates like some of y'all are capable of, but it is clear that quite a few guys here have it down when it comes to meeting attractive women. I know bars are not really the place to be.

Bars can work, at least some of the time. You might be able to make this work for you.

Don't discount it.

I want to meet women of that higher caliber

Danger Will Robinson.

You are hoping to meet "this one special girl" and "a high quality woman". This means you are looking to invest, looking for her to be faithful, and all that stuff. This is slipping dangerously into blue pilled territory.

No woman is worth 100% commitment. They will all fuck you over given the chance. None of them will fix you or your problems.

and given the time I have put into my career and gym (plus the fact that I am not ugly), I believe I would fare pretty well.

You need to be more honest with yourself, because again you are hiding behind euphemism.

What does "fare pretty well" mean? Get laid a lot? Meet a "high quality woman"? Have lots of options?

I know more and more couples nowadays meet via dating apps, so there is no shame in that.

Not just couples, but also (and more often), sex.

Admittedly, I was brutally made fun of when I was younger and in college, and photos of me went viral where my physical features were mocked.

Yeah, this trauma will take a little while to get past. Don't underestimate it, but don't hold yourself back either.

Though time has passed and those images are no longer true of my present self, I still remain insecure and absolutely hate taking photos of myself. So, there is some obstacle for me against dating apps.

Dating apps are brutally hard because men outnumber women 2:1. Many (most?) women on there are farming attention. And they all go for the top 1% men.

I spent all my time on my mindset, career, and body, but failed to give a single thought to how I would actually utilize it with women.

Well, those are all good things to have, although your mindset isn't there yet.

Now I am trying to catch up on that part of my life. So, I ask y'all: what did y'all do and where do y'all go to meet actual pretty girls?

Ok, here's your options to meet women:

• Fame (doesn't apply here)
• Work (terrible idea)
• Day game (walking around your city, coffee shops, streets, bookshops, etc)
• Night game (bars can be ok, clubs are terrible)
• Online
• Social groups

There aren't many more options.

Highly recommended: avoid dating apps unless you are top 1% looks (6 ft tall, ripped, 6pack abs). Do day game, night game, or both (whichever works for you) Social groups: do everything you can to expand your social life. Groups, meetups, hang out with friends, host parties, set up fun nights out for people.

I know some are just hoes and it's my job to filter them out. To be clear, I don't think I am getting ahead of myself. I went on my first few dates recently with a chick I met while rock climbing who kept throwing herself at me, but I ended it because I didn't find her super attractive and she had a few years over me. (I could've worked into something casual, but I didn't feel like it with her). Occasionally I do see very pretty girls out in public, but they are usually in a group or there's some other factor that I end up using as an excuse not to approach. I plan on just shooting my shot the next time I see one I like.

It's not "shooting your shot". You need to build yourself into the kind of guy who talks to people. That's 90% of the battle. Find ways to rapidly get talking to people. Not just pretty girls, but everyone.

Forget groups of girls, that's fucking suicide.

Two girls though.... you've got a chance. Learn to start the chat. You'll be leading it while they look like deer in headlights. Best option here is coffee - people chilling and some of them will be open to talking to strangers.

The trick is to be attractive, interesting but super low key and non-threatening which means perpetually looking like you're about to leave while also continuing the conversation.

Right now, my current plan is to keep going out to hotspots where young people hang out.

good

I intend to get more involved in running clubs, rock climbing, VOLO sports, and volunteering in these areas.

"intend to" ???

shut up and go do it.

Maybe I need to try to get to work early and leave early so I am in time for happy hour in the hotspot areas.

yes

I also believe I just need to man up when it comes to photos and bite the bullet on dating apps.

try it. ditch it if it doesn't work