Getting Strong without Heavy Weights?

Hello hello hello,

Irem is back! I am back from my work trip from Austria and I am back to work. Silly me forgot her keys to her desk container, so I've been having minimal to no work today, because all my work is locked inside the container and I can't access to my files today. That leaves me with a bunch of time to catch up on all the stuff that was posted in the Community Chat ever since I left for Austria on Thursday.

By the way, Austria was beautiful! I plan to share all of the things I did along with the pictures on another post later on today. I just came from my lunch break and I talked to my mother on the phone. We were discussing how I wanted to get the Powerblock Dumbbells for my birthday next month and she was telling me how she refused to let me buy them (I still live in her house and am financially dependent on my parents, so I can't "just buy" the things I want without getting their permission first. It's kind of a Turkish thing to still ask for your parent's permission for things despite being of age), because she didn't want me to spend that much money on fitness stuff. She'd much rather I join a normal gym and go to work out there, but I refuse to sign up to a gym, because 1. it's too expensive, 2. I prefer working out alone in the comfort of my own home, 3. the time I would spend traveling to the gym is just not worth it. I'd much rather use that time to actually get in my workout - plus, with the incredible accessibility of workout videos on the Internet, one does not NEED to go the gym to get in a workout! I do have a few dumbbells at home, one 2kg dumbbell set, one 3kg set and one 5kg set and as of now, that is more than enough. I am nowhere near strong enough to use anything heavier than that - however I wanted to get the Powerblock Dumbbells, because my main focus now is on building strength and I thought Powerblock Dumbbells would have been the best product to purchase as you can adjust the weights and you only have ONE set of dumbbells and not a bunch of them. But as I already mentioned... I can pretty much scratch that, I won't be getting them for my birthday and if I were to buy them myself (which I could afford, because I did save up money for this) I would be in a huge fight with my mother for not only disobeying her, but also for the sole fact that she doesn't really like the fact that I work out so much.

It's hard to explain, but my mother has this connotation and stereotype ingrained in her mind that exercise = weight loss and eating healthy = weight loss and considering my past with my eating disorder and now having lost about 10 kg in the past year due to healthy eating and working out, she is super tense and on edge, because she thinks I might relapse any second (which to be fair, I can see where she is coming from, but she is not even giving me a chance to prove her that this time around my mentality is a lot different than when I was younger).

Long story short, this has been a very long story, for that I apologize, but my question to you guys was going to be: what other alternatives could I have to continue to become stronger without having to purchase any more dumbbells or without having to purchase the Powerblock Dumbbells or sign up to a gym? What if I reach a point in which the dumbbells that I have at home no longer challenge me? Do I just continue to use them to maintain my muscles or what do I do? Does anyone know and can help me?

If you've made it this far, thank you, I appreciate you, I love you. You are a kind person. I wish everyone a beautiful day and a great start to the week! It's going to be very hot this week, so make sure to drink lots of water and treat yourself to some ice cream!

Lots of Love

Irem

Edited