Gen,
I'm all caught up in your journal. It sounds like you're progressing along very nicely.
As for your legs, that's a bummer. Have you tried walking backwards? It'll exercise different muscle groups- not sure if that would make a difference with the fracture.
What about situps & pushups? Maybe you could have your husband sit 10 feet away from you and throw a heavy medicine ball or a substitute, and throw it back and forth overhead- using your full strength? It sounds like you might want to focus on the upper
body for now to give your legs some rest. It might be just that you've done too much too soon?
No access to a pool, that's a toughie. You could take a hot Epsom salt bath, that'll soothe your legs. Maybe if you can, you might want to find a sauna or steam room somewhere. I have no idea what's it like in the UK in terms of having access to a
gym or a health club.
What about going for a bike ride? Maybe move the seat 1" higher than you normally have, and put it on low gear, that way, you'd put a little bit of
stress on your legs, not as much as walking. You could pedal fast for 20 minutes (the bike would go very slowly, but you'd get the exercise in)
Do you have access to a rowing machine? They give a heck of a workout without putting too much weight on the legs. Or, what about a boat? Do you have access to a boat with paddles? You could put extra weight in the boat, rocks, sand bags,
weights, whatever you can... Make it more difficult to paddle. Make it a point to go to one end to another or something... Sweat it off using your upper
body.
There is an exercise that you could do- tie rope on a tree, that's about 7 feet high up in the tree. The rope should be around 12' long- both ends. Lean back against the bottom of the tree and pull yourself up and go up/down. It's like a reverse pushup. This really puts very minimal amount of
stress on the legs.
Another thing you could do- put on knee pads or something to protect your knee caps- padded rags or something... Ask your husband to give you a bear hug from behind and put his full weight on you. Crawl on your knees, that'd give you a real good workout. You could do it outside on the grass to protect your knees.
Maybe you could buy a kick scooter, the kind that kids use- no motor or anything- scoot for 3 miles, turn around, switch legs, scoot for 3 miles back. That'd be less of a impact on your legs.
If you have a friend or someone that has access to a wheelchair, you could tie some
weights to the back of the wheelchair- like 50 lbs or something... Wheel yourself for 5 miles and back. I guarantee you, your arms will be rock solid, and you'll sweat.
If you have access to a skateboard, you could find yourself a quiet spot where there's plenty of asphalt around- lie down on it stomach down- center yourself... Put on some gloves and ask your husband to sit on your back and you could claw and push your legs and hands like a turtle would... That probably would be a heck of a workout too.
You could go to a park, lie under one end of a seesaw, and ask your husband to sit on the other end, you could pull the board towards you, like an opposite bench-press. Your husband could help a little bit, so that it's not too bad. If you wanted to do it by yourself, attach 50
pounds to the other end and tie your end with rope, so you can reach it if it's too high. In fact, you could use a short piece of 3' rope as a handle.
I'm sure there are plenty of other
exercises that you could come up with that doesn't require the use of your legs, or at least doesn't require you to impact your legs as you would if you were walking or running.
If anything, it'll help you maintain the strength that you have built up. It's possible that your
body is just not used to having you exercise like this, when you have not done as much in the past??
Food-wise, it sounds like you might want to try eating some chicken and take Vitamin C/iron/fiber supplements at the same time. You could always reduce your calorie intake accordingly, since you'd not be exercising like you have?
When one jumps from eating the way they do- to exercising intensely, the
body has a new metabolism level created- and what happens is, it takes MORE exercise for you to lose the weight. But if you started out with minimal exercise, you can lose the weight... Hit a plateau, then step up the exercise a little bit... Take advantage of the metabolism system... Hit plateau, step it up.. Know what I mean?
I hope that this helps at least, a little bit.
Hang in there! We cannot have success without failure first, and when we have tasted failure, then we can appreciate the success. We all have got your back here.
Best of luck!
George
you'll get through this. 
)
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