Search Results: should i lose weight

Hello! I am 17 and I go to college and I'm currently in my third term. Lately, I've been really tired of being single and been wanting a change. I've thought about approaching women, but I always think that they are not going to be interested because I'm ugly. Back in middle school, I was made fun of a lot for the way my face looked. This came from both genders: male and female. Lately, I haven't ran into this problem in years might because I was a little chubby and my face was fatter. Now, I lift weights and right now I'm cutting (at 157lbs at 5'7.5. Back in middle school, I was about 170-180lbs at 5'7.5). Not only that, my clothing style has definitely gotten better since then. Not only that, some people at my middle school were not able to stand looking at my face and they try everything in their power to stay away from me at all costs. Lately with woman, I don't really catch people looking at me. Sometimes might lock eyes and they smile but I'm sure it's just politeness. Also, in some cases, I might accidentally strike up a conversation with girls and they usually smile in our whole entire conversation and keep contact. I'm also pretty sure this is just politeness. Also, for some reason, there is this one girl everytime we see each other we always strike a conversation and she always waves and smiles when we first see each other. Everytime she sees me and I usually think "what the fuck, is this person disrespecting me now". Because girls used to act they like me by doing this (yes, back in middle school, I was made fun of so bad, girls used to act they like me as a joke to all their friends). I was thinking about just ignoring her and acting like she does not exist. So, should I just say fuck it and go up to woman and talk to them because I have nothing to lose. If so, give me tips. I know I should be confident and should have a good personality. So, yeah give me tips.

Since the beginning of last year (left picture), I have put on over 40 pounds of weight (right picture) due to various medical reasons. For the last few months, I have tried to diet and exercise, but had very little success. At this point, I'm wondering if I should just embrace my new curves instead of trying to become thin again. What do you all think? Please comment respectfully. I know I'm not wearing the most flattering clothes in the right picture, but it's what I like to wear around the house :p