Treequeen,
I too am just looking into this and beginning the process. I made the decision to go ahead and tell all of my co-workers (which happen to be great friends of mine as well), family and other friends. Honestly, I wasn't nervous because I knew that this was a decision I was making and that if they didn't agree it wasn't going to change my decision. For the most part, everyone has been great. I did have a horrible argument with one very close friend that tried to make me feel I should do it the "natural" way. I can tell you that it brought out emotions that have been buried SO SO SO deep over the past years of being overweight. Although it hasn't been easy in terms of that relationship, I am glad I am going through it now. For me, I think it would be hard to deal with those particular emotions after surgery vs. now. This is just me, but I feel that if someone is a true friend they can disagree but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be happy for you and supportive in your choice. What I say is that I am choosing to not ride a rollercoaster for the rest of my life. This up and down thing and trying this and that is simply not working and it is now showing up in health problems for myself, both physically and emotionally. My purpose of course includes wanting to look better, but I want my life back. I want to be an active mom with my kiddos, have the energy needed to work a full-time stressful job and live to see what God has in store for myself, my family and my friends. I guess I just finally got to the point of truly not caring what all of these people think. It is my life to live and to serve God better I feel that I really do need to do this for myself to be a better wife, mom, friend, and so on. I guess anyone who doesn't support me in that is not someone I want around me, especially right now when I am needing those that DO support me. Hey, you've got this site and all of us!
Best of luck!