You ask, I answer

Reader-Submitted Question: Are you thinner? You look thinner.

This is a new one that has only come up since I started doing video blogs. Thanks for keeping the attention on my personal appearance instead of on my ideas. There is no point in telling me I sound smarter when you could tell me that I look thinner. Thanks, guys.

Yes, I am thinner. I will probably never be "thin" -- I am much too curvy for that -- but I am thinner since agreeing to become the Princess's online workout buddy eleven weeks ago. We send each other inspirational messages through the SELF website. For example, I send her e-mails that say "350 calories for a chai??? WTF???" and she sends me cute cards about David Hasselhoff. Now that I think about it, she is a much better online workout buddy than I am. Sorry, Princess. I am not used to having a sister.

I claimed I wasn't on a diet for a while, until Glen told me flatly that if I was trying not to eat too many calories, I was definitely on a diet. I really don't feel like I am, though. My mom is always on some weird eating plan (cream cheese rolled in salami??? WTF???) and I suppose that's what I think of as a diet.

I will probably live to regret saying this, but it hasn't been hard. I eat just about anything I want. The hardest part has been realising that I need new clothes. There are not a lot of places to buy clothes around here, and I bought a ton of new stuff when I was in the States last spring. I can't just throw those things away. Twelve weeks ago I was in Victoria for a dear friend's wedding, and I bought a pair of jeans that fit quite well. Today I took them off without unbuttoning them. Steve says I am not allowed to wear them anymore because they fit like oversized sweat pants. This is a big problem, because they cost $80. It was tough for me to buy them in the first place, and even tougher to imagine throwing them away after only three months of use.

I don't own a scale, because I used to have a friend who had a serious body-image problem that opened my eyes to the fact that the scale can contribute to real sickness. I sort of wish I had one now, because it would be fun to know if I'm any lighter than I was when I started. I have lost five inches from my waist, three from my hips and two and a half from each leg. It is pretty freaky. I don't know what I expected when I started, and I don't know how long I'm going to keep going.

And no, I am not going to turn into a person who always talks about diets.