Yes I heard all the same comments and even more. One of my best friends tried to talk me out of surgery. When, she realized I wasn't changing my mind she said. " well, what am I going to do, I'm not big enough for surgery. How am I suppose to keep up?" She was scared I would be skinny and she would still be over weight.( not by very much). She is good now, but as the weight is dropping off and her is staying the same, I can tell she is not pleased with herself. When I go to the gym and she says. "you need to take me with you, why did you go without me? I need to get in shape!" I replied- I DID call you and ask if you wanted to go, remember? So she said next time make me go. haha. Most of my friends and family have been really supportive. I know it not easy change for some people. It changes their own self preceptions. My sister had WLS in september. Ironically we both had set up our first appointments with the surgeons the same timeframe but didn't know the other sister was doing it. She called me and told be she was thinking about having WLS, and I laughed and told her my appointment with doctor was in two days. She had allready been seeing a nutriutionist for over a year so she got approved and had surgery done within a month of that call. I just had mine done last month. It worked out great because she was there for me when my turn came around. Let me know what worked and didn't work for her. She has always been the heavier the sister. And I have to be honest, It stung a little inside,when she first told me her weight was under mine. So I kind of understand how that feels. But I was am happy for her and how healthy she was becoming. I'm her biggest fan and she is my greatest support! We send photos back and forth and text our new weights to each other. Last time I took a picture of me standing on scale - I had dropped to 218(from 256 highest)lbs. she wrote back. PLEASE , now that you lost all this weight,treat yourself to a pedicure before you send another photo like that. Scary toes!