Art is imitating life on "Guiding Light" these days because CAITLIN VAN ZANDT, who plays Ashlee on the CBS soap, had lap-band surgery -- and there is no way the actress, who weighs more than 200 pounds, can shed the weight without her character doing the same.

ET was with the 22-year-old soap star as she began the process and we are with her two-and-a-half months later to show you her 30 pounds lighter.

"I feel apprehension mixed predominantly with happiness," she said just before the 45-minute surgical procedure. The lap-band procedure is different than a stomach staple in that it requires no cutting. Rather, the lap band squeezes and shrinks the opening to the stomach to the size of a finger.

The five-foot eight-inch Caitlin's goal is to one day be a size 8. Although she's not quite there yet, ET was with her when she was getting ready to film her first bathing suit scene for "Guiding Light."

"There is a goal," she tells ET, "but at the end of the day it's about being happy today with yourself."