Cardio and muscle gain, yes or no?

Those sound more like Circuit training and no they wont add msucle they will however build strength.

If you are not losing weight you are eating at maintenance. Meaning you are eating more than you think.

I did take a look at your diary and it looks like you don't weigh your food or log everything...there are days with 300cal and days with nothing.

Looking at your diary you're either not eating anywhere near as much as you should, or you're not logging everything you eat.

If it's the former, you simply need up your calories. Pack your meals and snacks with protein and good fats, e.g. nuts, avocado, eggs, lean chicken/turkey.

You need to make sure you're eating AT LEAST calories for BMR - this is the number of calories your body needs to function - you MUST not eat below this level or you will be doing more harm than good. There are loads of online calculators so you can work it out. From there you can calculate your TDEE, which is the number of calories your body needs to maintain weight, based on your lifestyle. Exercising 5 times a week you would be considered moderately active. Depending on your height and weight your TDEE could be anything from 1800-2500, or maybe more/less (I am unable to give an accurate estimate as I don't know your height and weight). Once you know your TDEE, reduce the calories by 500 to result in weekly fat loss of 1lb. You should look at losing no more than 1-2lbs a week, but again that depends on your weight.

If you're eating less than BMR you run the risk of your metabolism slowing down, causing you to retain calories each time you eat, resulting in weight gain. Believe it or not - sometimes you need to eat more to lose more. I am beginning to learn that myself!

If you're simply not logging what you eat, start to! It's a really good way of monitoring what you eat. A lot of people vastly underestimate what they eat and how much, and the calories associated. I used to think a large plate of wholegrain rice and chicken was really good for me, which is if you have a normal portion - which I wasn't. Basically, you may think what you're eating is healthy and you are not eating many calories but the opposite may be true. Try and weigh everything you eat to give accurate results - 62.5g of uncooked rice weighed is not the same amount as I imagined 62.5g to look like.

Perhaps look at alternative classes too. Kettlercise is one of my personal favourites and it is a quality workout and uses strength exercises using kettlebells. Body pump is also good as it utilises bar bells, which you can slowly add weight as you build muscle and get stronger. If you want to build muscle, perhaps stick to 2-3 classes a week and focus on strength training in the gym on the other days.

Hope that helps!

Ok thanks. I do log most days - there are a couple days I will not log as I'm busy doing other things. But during the week I always log now.

If you build strength is that not the same as muscle? I thought muscle was strength.

Logging is critical for weight loss, weighing food on a scale and choosing correct entries.

Strength<>muscle...to build muscle you have to eat at a surplus....what typically happens is you are losing fat so you see the muscles you have.

I prelog in the morning...typically everything but the leftover calories which I decide after supper. This is recent for me and it makes lift easier.

As well...you can eat below your BMR and your body wont hold calories...if you are eating below maitenance you will lose weight...the amount below defines how much.

If you've got very little muscle and you nutrition etc is appropriate, then it could do.

But you still need to consider calories in vs calories out for weight loss.

when you look at her diary you know the nutrition is not there...

Now I'm getting confused - so you're saying you can have strength without having muscle? Don't believe that for one second, sorry...

All I really wanna know is, will those classes be gaining muscle?

In answer to your questions above:

1) Yes, you can increase strength without increasing muscle. It's called neuro-muscular adapatation. Essentially your existing muscle mass has an untapped ability to handle an increased load with the assistance of your central nervous system with training which does not require increased muscle. There will come a point however that you cannot see additional strength gains without physically adding more muscle.

2) Possible but it's unlikely you will add much if anything (people new to training may see a short term increase even in the face of a calorie deficit but this a short term phenomenon and not so much that it becomes apparent on your frame - that is more likely temporary fluid retention / inflammation from exercise.)