Another datapoint. To answer the original question: no, it is not horrible, I am still sexually attractive, but... after a many year break, saw Charles, an old lover from my past, someone I met 19 years ago, and he did tell me that I need to exercise to lose weight. So he noticed the difference. I said that I am exercising and am losing weight. He said that more is needed. It was not the focus of the discussion, unlike with D., but a mention in passing, as a part of a general conversation about taking good care of myself, not doing crazy things, not giving away life savings, not giving in to demands, not doing this, not doing that..., and, by the way, losing some weight and wearing sexier clothes. In regards to clothes, he did not know that I was on my last clean clothes because I had misplaced my laundry room keys, so looking sexy was not quite on my mind - being in clothes that did not smell was plenty good for the moment.