Cheapskate has 5 tips for being slim without a gym

1. Apparently we are spending more and more time getting distracted by technology when really it could be helping us stay active. If you find yourself sitting in front of the TV a few hours every night you could also find yourself exercising for a few hours. That’s right, a workout without the gym membership.
 

Rather than fast forward through commercials, use that time to move. Stand up and sit down during the entire commercial break. That will exercise your thighs and keep you moving. Rather than staying in one place you can also walk around the coffee table for those three or four minutes. You don’t need any special shoes or an expensive monthly membership – soft carpet would help, but we’re not picky here – so there is no excuse to complain about the boring commercials. It is up to you to make them fun.

How many people can say they worked up a sweat during the commercials? Unless, of course, it was during the Bachelorette finale and you wondered who she’d pick. Am I alone on that one? Please answer with, “Love your sarcasm, Jeremy.”
 
2. Something I don’t always find fun is talking on the phone. I talk on the radio for a living so I just want to shut up sometimes. But there some people that you HAVE to talk to. And when my mom calls (cue the hate mail on that joke) or anyone for that matter, I walk through the house. Instead of sitting on the couch and gabbing away as I eat junk food, I walk from the living room to my bedroom upstairs, then down to the basement and up through the kitchen and back to the living room. Before I know it I have been walking for 45 minutes and I didn’t get frostbite or a boot full of snow.
 
3. Strengthen the arms by playing with the dog. If you have a big dog like I do – I actually have two – and they like bringing you a rubber tuggy toy or knotted rope, use that to strengthen your arms. When you pull with all your might and then release and let the dog pull it from you and then you pull it back towards you, the motion is not much different than you would get lifting clanking metal weights – or whatever weights are made out of. I don’t go to the gym. My house is one big workout facility.
 
4. Dance, dance, dance! One of the sections in The Official Guide to Being a Winnipeg Cheapskate is about how to enjoy a weekend without spending much money. Fire up YouTube, crank the speakers and relive some of your favourite songs from childhood and dance the night away. You’d be surprised how “related matches” on the side of the page will jog your memory and before you know it you’ll have spent a few hours rocking out to your favourite tunes.
 

5. And we’ll end with the tip you were probably expecting at the beginning of this section. Lift those soup cans. Raid the kitchen cupboard, fill up 2-litre bottles, or even a 4-litre ice cream pail and use them as weights. You’ve heard every weight-loss guru tell you it’s simple to find things around the house but do you actually do it?