Texas, this is a huge deal!!! Of course I have quite a ways to go but believe me, I noticed a big difference after losing 100lbs. It's been with strangers rather than friends in that they will meet my eyes more whereas before, I was invisible. Becoming "visible" is scary at best - especially for those of us who have never been thin and did not grow into womanhood learning how to deal with attention from members of the opposite sex.
Frankly, getting to goal scares the bezeejus out of me in this respect. It's flattering getting attention but as someone who has spent their life trying to blend into the background, it's not necessarily welcome.
To be fair though, your personality and friendship may be perfect but they have not previously been physically attracted to you. Yes, it should not matter, but it does. We all have biases and preferences, unfortunately our society finds this particular "fault" to be one of the worst. I read a poll once where the question was "would you rather date someone who was overweight or a cocaine addict?" - the majority answer was "cocaine addict" :omg: Good Grief!