Hit a wall! All advice welcome: Gym or Diet

Mypupsnow

Goal: I recently lost a lot of weight(30 lbs) due to digestive issues and want to gain just a tad more back as muscle(because who doesn't want muscle?) I joined a gym and improved my diet and gained 7lbs but now, after 5 months I've stopped seeing progress and am even slipping back a bit. I'm currently 5'6" 107lbs and would like help gaining another 5!

Gym:
Mon:rest
Tues: kickboxing and Pilates (cardio and core strength)
Wed: rest
Thurs: 45min 3sets of 15 on the gym weight machines (full body)
Fri: rest
Sat: body shaping (light weights) and Zumba(very laid back- I take it for fun not fitness)
Sun: yoga(stretching) and Zumba(again, laid back maybe light cardio)

Diet:
Tons of Vegetables(often frozen organic)
Tons of fruit (usually fresh organic)
Lots of nuts
Lots of Greek yogurt
Lots of lean chicken and beef
Whole grains
If I eat anything too high in fat or sugar I get sick(how I lost weight in the first place)

I'm pretty good about the exercise schedule but have tons of trouble sticking to the diet because I never feel full and end up going for sugary drinks or ice cream(which upsets my stomach and results in me losing weight).

Advice?

LoraF83

Are you tracking all your food?

jwdieter

Well, if you can't eat much but want to gain weight, doing cardio in various forms throughout the week may be counter-productive.

Make sure you're logging accurately, and figure out what exactly is causing digestive problems so you can arrange your intake appropriately.

Mypupsnow

Thanks for the advice. I was super conscientious about tracking what I ate early on but after I figured out I was eating enough calories and it was the fat/ sugar processed foods then I stopped. Its a good idea to go back to doing that.

TropicalFlowerz

randomly throw in some long walks?! wrks for me.

cmeiron

If you're not gaining then your intake is less than your output, period. Start tracking so you can figure out what to tweak: either you need to eat more, or exercise less, so you can create a caloric surplus. If it's muscle you're specifically interested in gaining, make sure you're getting in tons of protein (somewhere around .8 to 1g/ lb body weight) and lifting heavy weights several times a week. You might be able to kill two birds with one stone if you skip some of the more cardio-ey fitness classes and replace them with a progressive lifting program. Stronglifts, Starting Strength, and All Pro Beginner's are good programs to check out. ETA: I do get the mentality of "I don't need to track" - I'm bulking right now too and wasn't tracking much...but then I started losing weight again so I've started tracking and making sure my intake is regular again - this way I'll know what needs to change and will be certain that my current intake is steady (helps me track protein macro too!)

Mypupsnow

Thanks! That sounds like great advice too! I think those programs could really help me out and they don't seem too intimidating.

cmeiron

I've only tried one of them (All Pro) - I've been doing it since February and I was a total newb to lifting when I started. It's totally doable for the beginner. Love it!

action_figure

Goal: I recently lost a lot of weight(30 lbs) due to digestive issues and want to gain just a tad more back as muscle(because who doesn't want muscle?) I joined a gym and improved my diet and gained 7lbs but now, after 5 months I've stopped seeing progress and am even slipping back a bit. I'm currently 5'6" 107lbs and would like help gaining another 5!

Gym:
Mon:rest
Tues: kickboxing and Pilates (cardio and core strength)
Wed: rest
Thurs: 45min 3sets of 15 on the gym weight machines (full body)
Fri: rest
Sat: body shaping (light weights) and Zumba(very laid back- I take it for fun not fitness)
Sun: yoga(stretching) and Zumba(again, laid back maybe light cardio)

Diet:
Tons of Vegetables(often frozen organic)
Tons of fruit (usually fresh organic)
Lots of nuts
Lots of Greek yogurt
Lots of lean chicken and beef
Whole grains
If I eat anything too high in fat or sugar I get sick(how I lost weight in the first place)

I'm pretty good about the exercise schedule but have tons of trouble sticking to the diet because I never feel full and end up going for sugary drinks or ice cream(which upsets my stomach and results in me losing weight).

Advice?

None of this sounds like a well-designed progressive overload strength program. The way to gain muscle is to eat at a slight caloric surplus, a good healthy diet with plenty of protein, complex carbs, good fats, and follow a well-designed progressive overload strength building program. Also, avoid the sugary crap. So, my answer is "Both".

fionarama

if you can afford it get a personal trainer.
or do a programme from bodybuilding.com like Jamie Eason Live Fit.

pavrg

You have too many rest days for someone who has been exercising consistently for 5 months.

Break up your weight training to M/W/F. Each workout should take 45 minutes-ish. You can do a two day whole body split in a program like starting strength or a 3-day split in a program like stronglifts, both would be effective. Also, ditch the 15 rep sets.

Make Thurs your 'off' day since you take classes over the weekend.

And of course you'll have to eat more, too, but eating more without a proper routine will just result in fat gain.