As someone who went through this 60 years ago (my wife and I were both virgins) when the mores were very different, it didn’t restrict my dating choices then (my shyness with women did). Fortunately my wife and I were very compatible sexually. But I did regret ten wasted years without sex since it is a really great experience.
When I was a young teenage atheist, I avoided sex due to anxiety, not religion or any moral reasons. At the time, I probably had a logical ethical argument for putting off sex, but that was mostly a result of my fear I believe.
I am now aware that I missed out on many dating (and “dating” opportunities) because I was too sexually passive. I somehow offended a few women by not attempting to have sex with them, and in some cases they went out of their way try to make me jealous (or something) by showing off their subsequent lovers.
I have also lost at least 2 real relationships due to inadvertently sexually “rejecting” women.
FWIW, it seems my wife has had at least 3 similar experiences that I’m aware of.
In my experience, not having sex would probably be a dealbreaker for most healthy prospective relationship partners for the simple reason that sex is an expected part of any adult romantic relationship. And people feel rejected and take it personally when you don’t want to have sex with them.
How much it limits your dating pool depends a lot on who you want to date. If you’re drawn to girls and women with conservative personal sexual values, then it won’t limit it a ton. If you’re drawn to girls and women with more liberal personal sexual values, then it will likely limit it a lot. (Politics and personal sexual values are not the same thing.)
Just be flexible with yourself when it comes to setting rules and standards. Don’t stick with things that aren’t working just because you made it a rule. Don’t abandon things that are working just because you feel a little silly or out of step.
While I’m Christian, I still identify strongly with your post. I’m a college freshman and have yet to be in any sort of relationship or go on a date with anyone for that matter. While I’m not short, I’m also uninterested in sports, don’t drink, and have odd tastes in music (albeit leaning towards German marching music rather than Indian film music) as well as not wanting to have sex until marriage. Additionally I have pretty much the same things to improve upon in this regard: improving social skills, working out, and the like. Most of the girls around my age who I’ve been attracted to haven’t been the type to have sex in relationships and indeed were virgins, so I think there are plenty of females out there who are of the (or at least willing to accept) your personal preference in this regard. Also from personal experience, there are lots of moderate evangelical or Catholic girls more than happy to date non-Christians. Viel gluck, mein kamerad.
The statistic masks the wide variations depending upon geography, culture, socioeconomic class, religion, and the like-the percentage was far lower amongst the people I knew at high school.