Isabell, I know exactly where you are coming from!! After being slim, pretty and very active until I was about 38, I started gaining weight during my divorce, lost my mom under tragic circumstances and then lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, I gained about 150 pounds! I had always done well at work, but took time off from the professional world when I lost my mom. When I went back to work I couldn't believe how I was treated!! It was totally different. I told one of my friends that I wasn't "in with the in crowd" anymore. I was banded on 8/12/08 right at 300 pounds. I am now around 275, maybe lower, and I have started walking almost every day again.