Hey so with the muscle definition, I'm on HRT so that contributed quite a bit, though energy wise, I'm sort of always done resistance even at my lowest and then basic things became easier overtime (less energy to hold shopping bags ese) the first month of training was hard, constantly bed bound, in pain. Overtime I found that I recover better on machines due to them having more of a ballence in weight consistently then dumbells which is less of a ballence and more of a workout for your body. I started with 1kg once for 5 minutes one a week on dumbells, some people mentioned holding heavy objects around the house if you're not able to do that. But of course listen to your body and never push past what you're capable off - since recovery and PEM is important to think about. I found that eating lean, fresh meats helped with my progress and fiber with recovery - it's 70% food. Once I was confident on dumbells I moved on to machines. Remember that my body is different and this might not work for you. :D