I'm officially one week (and one day) post op and for some odd reason I feel the need to share this journey with the world lap band world. I'm having an extremely difficult time relating to people on lapbandtalk only because i can't seem to find many that are my age actively posting. I'm hiding this surgery from the big world for now for a few reasons: 1) I don't need unsolicited advice 2) if you don't want someone's opinion, don't ask..and i'm not! 3) I'm afraid it's not going to be well received in the fitness community.

Let me tell you about me:

I'm 26 and I've been a Zumba instructor for 2.5 years. I've been a personal trainer for 3 years... yes, I could melt the weight off of clients, but not myself. I also work for a childhood obesity grant. hmmm what does a fat chick know about how to get skinny?! I'm recently married (November 2010) to a husband who must have cataracts because he always tells me he doesn't know when I gain weight.

The people that do know I've had this surgery don't know what to do with me! This week while in a long meeting I asked my boss if i needed to cancel my lunch plans because the meeting was going to run over. Her response was, "You can't go to lunch!! You can't eat yet!" I calmly told her i was going to meet some friends and drink my shake while they ate, lunch isn't always about chewing. My family cooks a big Sunday dinner and my husband and I usually join them after church.. last Sunday (3 days post op) we walked in to the smell of my favorite foods. I was informed to go get my shake and my husband could eat sigh

I'm also having trouble relating on the boards because.... I don't have any problems with my band yet. Immediately after I woke up from surgery I made the nurses get me up so I could walk, and i walked around the wing every hour there after. The pain pressure I felt in my abdomin felt like i had just completed P90X ab ripper x, so it wasn't unbearable and there was no way I was taking a narcotic pain reliever for something as miniscule as that. I didn't take any pain medicine after surgery, and I haven't taken any at all. My surgeon doesn't fill bands during surgery, so I'm able to: take pills, drink 4 oz water/15 minutes, eat pudding/jello/yogurt, and i've tried my luck with a few more substantial things with no problem. I've been able to sleep on my stomach, sides, and back since I came home the day after surgery and I only felt one instance of pain trying to stretch after Zumba. I'm also not hungry. I'm not sure if this is because my stomach is still swollen from the surgery creating restriction, or my band alone is enough restriction.

So here I go into the weekend, -8lbs from surgery and -18 lbs from pre op diet, ready to live my life outdoors with my husband and dog enjoying our March heatwave.