I spent nearly the entire night -- when I should have been sleeping -- reading a wonderful website found here:
http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html
By a woman not only very helpful about women lifting weights, but a good writer and personality as well.
I took the advice here about finding a small weight (I had 2, 10lb coated handbells I dug up) and doing something while lying in bed. I was so gentle and careful.
Then I started laughing. I crack myself up. What a freakin drama queen I am sometimes!
And I also realized that I am more than capable of building myself an appropriate bench to fit me, using 2x4's, and then padding it however I want, if I really need one.
I was feeling bad when I posted something a couple days ago, and it carried through, feeling sorry for myself and Oh So Worried about what little I could do, when I climbed into bed.
That's not a norm. On the assumption I haven't just eaten 17 things I have food allergies to, no protein for days, hardly drank any water for 2 days, and not gotten enough sleep -- I do that to myself now and then, and then I can barely move -- but outside of that bogus self destruction stuff, I am really not that bad off.
I get out and mow my yard, and spend a couple hours every 10 days or so doing the walking tour of super walmart with my kid (sheesh, who needs a track? lol). I know many people much less overweight than I am who would have a pretty hard time with it. (Not that mowing isn't hard - for inconvenience reasons related to terrain and weather - but it hasn't killed me yet; and walking sucks only for side-effect reasons - sweat, chafing, and lower back pain - not for muscles/cardio reasons).
If I am eating sufficient protein (at least 100g/day -- though adequate would likely be more like 200g) I actually have pretty decent strength just due to having to move this weight around. Turning over in bed (with someone sleeping next to you, so you have to turn in place) essentially requires almost reverse bench pressing about 200+lbs fer gawdsakes, which might explain why I have to 3/4-wake up to do it....
Though I used to be highly athletic, that was somewhere back in the Neolithic Era. I am considering going to Walmart and buying a few free weights. For arms/shoulders, not legs. Even partial leg lifts or partial knee bends (done right) function almost as squats considering my current poundage!, so the weight of my body alone is significant resistance exercise.
I am one of those really weird people who has always *loved* weight training in the off-and-on years I had a chance to do a little. Not sure why. So I'm excited about it again, Krista's website was downright inspirational for me.
I read a bunch of stuff yesterday about loose skin, mostly from weightwatchers and stomach-stapling people. It was simply horrifying. I should be glad nobody posted pictures I suppose.
I realize this skin thing will be a profound issue with me, though I confess, I am hoping a diet that is NOT lowfat will slightly reduce the extremity at least a tiny % (the dry, non-elastic skin is a pretty common thing in 'regular' lowfat dieting, but skin's in better shape on the higher protein/fat diets I've read about). I am not into surgery, let alone have I got the money to revise every part of my body, and the thought of major scars frightens me, but it really only took a night of sleeping on it to decide that I would rather have baggy skin I can at least partly hide in clothes, or significant scars, than 300 extra pounds of flesh.
The hard thing is that I really want to do this NOW, yet am waiting on a client check, so I can buy the needed food and some needed supplements. I'm taking the time to clean out some carbs from the kitchen (by gifting, not by eating, lol!), cleaning the kitchen so cooking is more workable, and jazzing my little girl (Rykah, who is 6) up to "help mommy" by eating good food with me. A little bit of easy intro exercises I can do, though, so I am doing that until I get my stuff, that makes me feel like I am accomplishing something.
PJ