First of all, let me say how proud I am of you for doing 10 minutes a day on your new machine -- DAY IN, DAY OUT!!!!!
That's AWESOME, Darla!!
Gotta say I'm in agreement with DishyFishy -- it's surely water not muscle at this point as it takes an awful lot of sustained hard work over months for a woman to put on pounds of muscle -- but the real point here is that you're doing an amazingly positive thing for your health over the LONG TERM! And it's quite widely recognized that the folks who successfully keep the weight off after they've worked so hard to lose it are regular exercisers -- nay, FREQUENT exercisers, if not DAILY exercisers.....so you're doing the right thing, girl!! Keep it up!!!
It's really important to remember that you have a journey before you. This is a road you're on, and you'll do yourself a real service if RIGHT NOW you establish a mindset along the lines of, "I have a long road ahead of me, and I absolutely can make it to the end. I know what I need to do to get there, and as long as I stay the course and keep doing what I know is right, I'll make this dream a reality. If I don't see results when or how I want, no matter -- I will. And if I misstep along the way, no matter -- I'll jump right back on course." It's a big picture perspective, a more global way of living your life in response to all the challenges, triggers, and difficult choices you'll encounter along the way. Believe me, I know whereof I speak.
You've got to be all about the long term, Darla. Raise yourself above the momentary frustration, because you know in your heart and mind that you're doing the right thing.
Yes, you want to lose weight, and you WILL if you continue to exercise. But don't you also want to improve your cardiovascular health and build the strength that is going to give you sustained energy and power you through your day and the next cardio session? Don't you want to have improved agility and flexibility? That same exercise that is going to get you ALL of these things is the very same exercise that has caused your muscles to retain water in response to your newly introduced routine. Relax! It's all good.
I think you're doing just GREAT, and I'd hate for you to throw in the towel on your daily exercise just because your need for immediate gratification wasn't met. Sorry, don't mean to be harsh, because I know intimately how hard it is to continue to do the right stuff when you're not getting the results you want when you want them. The way I see it, each of us has two choices: Do what we know is right.....or don't. It's pretty simple. Of course, that doesn't make it easy! It's hard as ****, we all know that here.....but you're in the process of breaking old habits and creating new ones.......and that's what's going to get you on that horse in May, girlfriend.