[joegibbs]

I don't think you can get much of an accurate answer over whether women prefer buff men from this. He's doing a pose which makes him look tiny in comparison, skinny with oversized arms. The lighting doesn't help either, it makes him look balder and his face look older. Also he's got some decent muscle in the before picture, just a higher bodyfat %. I'd be interested to know what the results would look like if it was more of a recomp where he was closer to his starting weight but with more mass, rather than a straight cut.

[UncleMeat]

The article does reference research demonstrating that men often are completely incorrect about the preferences of women. While "the lighting and pose are what does it" is nowhere near the "women are lying" stuff that the article is talking about, I really think that the starting point should be taking opinions like these at face value.

Notably, men significantly preferred the photo on the right. If the issue were lighting and pose making him look smaller on the right, why don't we see this same effect in the responses from men?