No, I haven’t found a great new snack food or way to lose weight overnight. If I had, I assure you that I’d be far too busy getting a patent on it to bother with blogging anymore.

But, if you find yourself trying to juggle household chores, home organization, menu planning and managing your grocery list, I do have a secret weapon you just might be interested in: my Home Helper Newsletter from one of my other sites, I Think Therefore I Blog.

Sign up and every Saturday morning you’ll find a helpful newsletter containing a 7-day dinner menu including desserts (not necessarily diet-friendly), a copy and paste grocery list containing everything you need to make those meals, a daily cleaning routine that will get your home spic and span in less than an hour a day and more!

The newsletter contain zero calories and zero carbs, and it won’t cost you a dime, either.

I’ve abandoned my morning walk around the neighborhood. I’m not a morning person to begin with, so about the fourth time I hauled myself out of bed and headed outside to find it cold and rainy it just started to seem more frustrating than not.

Then there was the day my walk turned into a near-run as a rather seedy-looking man followed behind me. I had the feeling he hadn’t chosen to wear an overcoat and low-brimmed hat as exercise gear, and I didn’t feel like finding out whether my hunch was correct.

Which is not to say that I’ve given up walking as a form of exercise. I haven’t: I’m just not doing it outdoors. I’m not dodging dodgy people or travel trailers jutting from driveways onto the sidewalk. I’m not hustling along with my fingers crossed in the hope of not seeing that old lady who goes commando.

I’m walking on my new treadmill in the comfort of my living room.

In fact, I’m doing it now. Yes, right now… as I type!

After reading about others doing it, I decided to get myself a basic treadmill and rig a shelf to hold my laptop on it. Oh, I’m not breaking any speed records — I’ve got it set at 2 mph — but I am burning calories while blogging.

Is it working?

Well, last week I lost three pounds. Three! Whether that’s from the exercise or the two days I spent feeling nauseous is hard to say, but it’s still three pounds. I won’t tell you how many more I hope to walk off because, well, that would be giving away my weight and I’ve made a point not to do that. (A woman has to have some bit of mystery, after all, and considering how much else I share about my life on my various blogs, that’s all I’ve got left.)

But, hey, if you happen to see me blogging a bit more on my various sites, now you know why: I’m actually exercising, but I’m hoping the blogging will keep my lazy butt from realizing it.

I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on TV. I’m also not a nutritionist, a dietitian, a weight loss consultant, or whatever they’re now calling people who tell you what to eat. I am, however, fat. And I’m constantly amazed by that fact.

You see, I do most of the things we’re all told to do.

I move around quite a bit daily, most of which involves chasing my 8-year-old homeschooled son around the house and doing an hour or so of cleaning chores per day, both of which take me up and down 3 flights of stairs. Repeatedly.

Sometimes I add yoga to that mix or rebound on my mini-tramp. Other times I spin for a while on my exercise bike. Sure, there are days — whole weeks, even — when I don’t do additional exercise, but my trusty pedometer tells me that I’m walking at least 10,000 steps per day.

I also eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains regularly. Oh, some days I might slack off on one or two servings, but for the most part I eat what I’m supposed to… and then some. Enough, in fact, that I refused to even look at my life insurance agent’s recommended weight chart to see just how above average I am.

But therein lies what’s led to my theory on why America is fat: we’re constantly being told more foods we ought to be eating. One day it’s “add grains“, the next it’s “eat more fruits and vegetables“, then it’s “eat more protein” and “eat more fish” and drink more tea and consume more dairy products.

Then there’s the flax seeds, coconut oil and the ever-growing list of disease-fighting foods.

In short, by the time a person has followed all the so-called “experts” advice on what to eat for optimum health they’ve polished off as much food as a defensive lineman.

But is it helping? No, or we wouldn’t continue to be plagued equally as often by health bulletins warning about the risks of obesity and diabetes.

You know, after putting so much effort into losing weight — and learning how I’m supposed to lose it — I’m sorely tempted to just shrug my shoulders (hey, that burns calories, right?) and eat more junk food. At least then I’d be conscious of how many calories I’m consuming, and I’d enjoy the taste, too.