WEST: What I meant was that I wouldn't settle for anything less than an ideal relationship with consideration of my own self-knowledge. I know damn well that I could never be faithful to a woman who didn't take care of herself or had issues with regards to sex. That's just me, I need to get laid and I want it to always be hotter than the last time. Considering the limitations marriage imposes I know that's unrealistic, but I'm a pragmatist. When I proposed to my wife I was (and am) most certainly in love with her, but furthermore I weighed the idea of how loyal I could really remain to her versus the desire to hit it with other women and she measured up.
I realize how superficial that sounds, but once you can tell yourself the truth and get you head around it, then you can look for other qualities in a woman that make her a good candidate for an LTR or marriage.
In fact the only reason this comes off as shallow at all is because women have trained and socialized men by shaming them out of their natural impulses to better serve their need for security. If a woman can shame you into thinking that you're vain for wanting a hot woman as a prerequisite for your own intimacy (and security provisioning) then all the overweight women in the world have the playing field leveled for them not to mention a very effective tool to claim power with.
Women have countless conditions required of men to attain their intimacy (status, wealth, influence, attractiveness, confidence, intelligence, sensitivity, humor, etc.) whereas a man only has one - she's got to be hot. After having a list of prerequisites like this, how dare any woman attept to shame me out of my one condition for my own intimacy and security potential? If this is my one condition for intimacy it had better be the most important one for making a decision to spend a lifetime with a woman. If you can find a woman who'll look after herself and understands that this is what attracts as well as keeps a man, and remains self-dedicated to it in earnest, then you can focus on other attributes that make her an acceptable mate. If I am the PRIZE, I am the PRIZE both in and out of an LTR and for me this is the primary requirement for the PRIZE. It is not the only consideration, but it is the primary one.