8 week cut = no weight loss HELP [Archive]

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BuckeyeRideR

02-25-2011, 12:03 AM

I workout 7 days a week. Usually about 1 hour of intense weightlifting per day, and 20 mins of cardio, along with stretching before and after.

I'm 5'11 and weigh 238 now 8 weeks later, and i started at 238. I went down to 233 about 3 weeks ago but am now back up. I take the basic supplements along with 2 protein shakes a day.

My maintenance cals are 4250 calculated and i have ate 2000cals/day for the last 8 weeks. I eliminate carbs whenever i can and aim to eat foods with the highest protein. I consume the 1g/per lean lb protein each day. So calculated I am at a 15,750 deficit per week, or 4.5lbs per week. So technically i should have lost 36lbs by now right? I don't understand it. Am i not eating enough?

ONE BIG QUESTION i have is that usually on saturday nights as a cheat meal i go to redlobster, order a huge meal and probably eat about 6 of these cheddar biscuits b/c i love them! Is this totally screwing up everything, or not an issue? One weird thing i've noticed, is that usually when you eat less your stomache shrinks and therefore you are full sooner, however i can eat a TON of food still at redlobster before i am full. what am i doing wrong?

BuckeyeRideR

02-25-2011, 12:25 AM

just added up my usual redlobster meal and even with all those biscuits its only 1850 cals. I've read a couple articles and they've said anythings ok as long as you stay below your maintenance cals. I am DEFINITELY below 4250cals.

Emma-Leigh

02-25-2011, 12:54 AM

I workout 7 days a week. Usually about 1 hour of intense weightlifting per day, and 20 mins of cardio, along with stretching before and after.
Firstly: If you are weight lifting 'intensely' 7 days a week PLUS doing 20 minutes of cardio - then you are not doing it right. Not even ELITE athletes can train INTENSELY 7 days a week without breaking down. You need to do some research and train properly.

Secondly: What do you do for the 23 hrs and 30 minutes you are NOT at the gym each day? If you sit on your arse, then no amount of '20 minutes of cardio' can reverse that.

I'm 5'11 and weigh 238 now 8 weeks later, and i started at 238. I went down to 233 about 3 weeks ago but am now back up.

My maintenance cals are 4250 calculated and i have ate 2000cals/day for the last 8 weeks.
I doubt your maintenance = 4250 cals.
Even WITH 7 days a week of INTENSE training + if you were pretty active OUT of the gym in your every day life (giving you a very GENEROUS activity level of 1.7).... that gives you a BMR of ~ 2500 cals.

So using the formula:
BMR = (lean mass in kg x 21.6) + 370
2500 = (lean mass in kg x 21.6) + 370
2500 - 370 = (lean mass in kg x 21.6)
(2500 - 370)/21.6 = lean mass in kg
Lean mass in kg = 98.6 kg

And at 238 # (108.2 kg) that means your bodyfat = 1 - (98.6/108.2) = 8.8%
And if you were 8.8% BF at 238# and 5'11 you shouldn't need to do A THING. ;)

I eliminate carbs whenever i can and aim to eat foods with the highest protein. I consume the 1g/per lean lb protein each day. So calculated I am at a 15,750 deficit per week, or 4.5lbs per week. So technically i should have lost 36lbs by now right? I don't understand it. Am i not eating enough?
No - you are likely eating too much.
Either because you are not calculating what you eat accurately.... or you are overestimating your energy expenditure.

ONE BIG QUESTION i have is that usually on saturday nights as a cheat meal i go to redlobster, order a huge meal and probably eat about 6 of these cheddar biscuits b/c i love them! Is this totally screwing up everything, or not an issue? One weird thing i've noticed, is that usually when you eat less your stomache shrinks and therefore you are full sooner, however i can eat a TON of food still at redlobster before i am full. what am i doing wrong?
^ if you don't NEED this cheat meal - and you don't compensate for the calories in other ways, then it will not be helping.

BuckeyeRideR

02-25-2011, 10:12 AM

Firstly: If you are weight lifting 'intensely' 7 days a week PLUS doing 20 minutes of cardio - then you are not doing it right. Not even ELITE athletes can train INTENSELY 7 days a week without breaking down. You need to do some research and train properly.

Secondly: What do you do for the 23 hrs and 30 minutes you are NOT at the gym each day? If you sit on your arse, then no amount of '20 minutes of cardio' can reverse that.

I doubt your maintenance = 4250 cals.
Even WITH 7 days a week of INTENSE training + if you were pretty active OUT of the gym in your every day life (giving you a very GENEROUS activity level of 1.7).... that gives you a BMR of ~ 2500 cals.

So using the formula:
BMR = (lean mass in kg x 21.6) + 370
2500 = (lean mass in kg x 21.6) + 370
2500 - 370 = (lean mass in kg x 21.6)
(2500 - 370)/21.6 = lean mass in kg
Lean mass in kg = 98.6 kg

And at 238 # (108.2 kg) that means your bodyfat = 1 - (98.6/108.2) = 8.8%
And if you were 8.8% BF at 238# and 5'11 you shouldn't need to do A THING. ;)

No - you are likely eating too much.
Either because you are not calculating what you eat accurately.... or you are overestimating your energy expenditure.

^ if you don't NEED this cheat meal - and you don't compensate for the calories in other ways, then it will not be helping.
thanks for the advise, it has made me begin to think.
to specify my training a bit more=======
Mon - light upper + 20 cardio
tues-light lower + 20cardio
weds-abs +30cardio
thurs- upper hypertrophy
fri-upper hypertrophy(different muscles)
sat-lower hypertrophy
sun-abs +30cardio

When i am NOT at the gym i'm driving equipment of doing some type of labor for 4 hours, and the other time i'm stuck in my apartment cleaning and sitting on my arse.

I've now firgured out my maintenance cals to 4250 two times, I guess i'll have to rework that as you posted. HOWEVER IMO i think i should be losing weight no matter what b/c i am eating A LOT better than before i started. (fast food, 12 pack of coke in 1 night, eating out probably 8 times a week, ice cream, pretty much eatin everything!)

^^^^^ How is it possible to go from eating so bad, to eating very healthy , and not lose any weight in 8 weeks?

fearbrandon

02-25-2011, 10:58 AM

thanks for the advise, it has made me begin to think.
to specify my training a bit more=======
Mon - light upper + 20 cardio
tues-light lower + 20cardio
weds-abs +30cardio
thurs- upper hypertrophy
fri-upper hypertrophy(different muscles)
sat-lower hypertrophy
sun-abs +30cardio

When i am NOT at the gym i'm driving equipment of doing some type of labor for 4 hours, and the other time i'm stuck in my apartment cleaning and sitting on my arse.

I've now firgured out my maintenance cals to 4250 two times, I guess i'll have to rework that as you posted. HOWEVER IMO i think i should be losing weight no matter what b/c i am eating A LOT better than before i started. (fast food, 12 pack of coke in 1 night, eating out probably 8 times a week, ice cream, pretty much eatin everything!)

^^^^^ How is it possible to go from eating so bad, to eating very healthy , and not lose any weight in 8 weeks?

ur maintance isn't correct. im 6'4 221 and my maintance is from 2900-3200 based on different calculations. i was eating 4100 a day and put on some fat im not happy about. down to 3500 a day and putting on little fat with muscle.

TelusLob

02-25-2011, 11:08 AM

Your maintenance is NOT 4200 calories bro.... 100% Confirmed via your non weight loss and of course, more importantly, common sense.

agm1984

02-25-2011, 11:16 AM

BuckeyeRideR

02-25-2011, 05:13 PM

simple. keep doing what your doing and keep eating a bit less until you start losing weight.

might take a few weeks to find the magic number but personally i would start around 3000 or maybe 3500 calories.

take my opinions with a grain of salt but i gain 1 lb per week eating 3000 calories/day at 170~ lbs 6'3"

and i am more active than most people.

i suspect you are overestimating the calories your burning per day.

oh and watchout you might get really hungry for the first couple days.
OK thanks for the help guys. I am definitely going to have to recalculate my numbers.

A normal day for me is 2000cal or a little below. Even if i cut out the "cheat day" and just base this on Monday thru Friday stats, there's no way i can see how being 238lb at 5'11" only eating 2000cals/day and not lose weight. Even over the short 5 day period.

BuckeyeRideR

02-25-2011, 11:51 PM

Ok calculated my maintenance calories via 2 different equations and averaged them out, they are 3645cals. So to lose 2lbs/week I would have to eat <1000cals/day. Which would equal 2645cals/day. Is that OK?

So why haven't i been losing 3lbs/week at 2000cal/day? This doesn't make any sense to me. I don't understand why i haven't been losing weight. Unless i'm gaining ridiculous muscle mass, which to myself i am looking bigger and the wife says i look real skinny since i've started.

I've been reading other threads about people in the same situation. I may try a re-feed, or eat maintenance cals for a week and then start over. I was thinking maybe i should just stay on 1lb/week deficit.

I'm going to post some pictures tomorrow of my 2 month progress.

BuckeyeRideR

02-25-2011, 11:59 PM

simple. keep doing what your doing and keep eating a bit less until you start losing weight.

might take a few weeks to find the magic number but personally i would start around 3000 or maybe 3500 calories.

take my opinions with a grain of salt but i gain 1 lb per week eating 3000 calories/day at 170~ lbs 6'3"

and i am more active than most people.

i suspect you are overestimating the calories your burning per day.

oh and watchout you might get really hungry for the first couple days.

I eat 2000cal daily and am not losing anything. At 238 lbs i think that is really low for myself, and yet no results. I don't want to lower that further.

I adjusted my new numbers for the low side of activity, however based on the classifications i have high activity.

KowboysUp

02-26-2011, 06:17 AM

BuckeyeRideR

02-26-2011, 08:53 AM

You outlined your diet before you started this, but not your training. Had you ever lifted seriously before this? Is it possible that your body is adding muscle and intramuscular fluid etc, while at the same time dropping fat? Most importantly WHAT IS THE MIRROR TELLING YOU?

When I take time off from lifting, and then start again, I basically will NOT lose weight for several weeks as my body makes changes and adaptions to lifting again. I can only imagine how long those adaptations would take had I never lifted before.

As far as training.......For the past 5 years while being in college I pretty much did nothing. Last time i trained was highschool as i weightlifted, played football, and wrestled. In high school weight was never an issue b/c i was so active. However i have never weightlifted like this before at such a consistent pace and strict schedule.

AS FAR AS THE MIRROR, i definitely feel and look like i've lost weight and added muscle. I'm pretty much soar everyday of the week from lifting.

Another thing i noticed. One day my pre-workout weight was 238lbs, and my post-workout weight was 236lbs after drinking nearly 5 16.9oz bottles of water. The wife suggested i'm drinking too much water during lifting and therefore i have a lot of water weight. I don't get how i can drink nearly 5lbs of water and end up weighing LESS after a workout.

BuckeyeRideR

02-26-2011, 12:56 PM

SouthernFried

02-26-2011, 02:09 PM

Took some pictures. This is 8 weeks of progress. Please share opinions!

LEFT RIGHT
Jan 1st 2011 Feb 26 2011

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t156/npalinchik/WL011-1.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t156/npalinchik/WL008-1.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t156/npalinchik/WL009-1.jpg

Looks like lost a minimal amount of belly fat. Not good for 8 weeks. Definitely need to reevaluate your diet and routine. 20 minutes of cardio seems way to low for me. I do at least 40 minutes most days.

SLiX

02-26-2011, 04:14 PM

maintenance more like 3300 - 3400 if you worked out intensely everyday

KowboysUp

02-26-2011, 04:21 PM

Definitely some loss in the belly, but I would agree, consider dropping your calories a smidge and see what it does for you.

I know I eat a lot less than most people when I cut, but I started out a LOT bigger than you (6'1 ~210 now, started at 280), and rarely ever go over 1,900 Kcals, except for weekend refeeds, where I don't really keep track but it can be pretty bad at times.

Cutting 200 Kcals is really not hard. Instead of 2 TBSP of peanut butter, have two. Instead of one piece of cheese, have a half. Instead of 7 oz of lean meat, have 5. You'll barely notice it, but you may see better results in the mirror.

BuckeyeRideR

02-26-2011, 08:26 PM

I can see a small amount of progress, but nothing for 8 weeks worth of work.

My new plan:
-this weekend do a re-feed
-aim for 2650 cals/day based off of my 3650 maintenance cals to lose 2lbs/week
-Maybe change my lifting routine, should I?
-Add more cardio?

I noticed a lot of you are recommending more cardio, however i've also read the weight lifting is as important if not more important to lose weight, hence my tendency to lift more than do cardio.

What i'm suprised about is that i think i look in the mirror like i've gained muscle in my arms and legs however the pics do not show it. Especially when i'm working out it looks like it. I may calm down my training to 3x a week and focus only on cutting

Emma-Leigh

02-27-2011, 01:15 PM

I can see a small amount of progress, but nothing for 8 weeks worth of work.

My new plan:
-this weekend do a re-feed
-aim for 2650 cals/day based off of my 3650 maintenance cals to lose 2lbs/week
-Maybe change my lifting routine, should I?
-Add more cardio?
You don't need a refeed.
Make sure you are REALLY accurate with your calorie counting.
Make sure you are being REALLY honest with how active you are.
2650 cals may be too much for you. Have you checked out my sticky on calculating your requirements -> http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981 <- it might help.
I would consider at least having someone eye ball your routine to see if it needs correction. But at the moment - I do believe that more cardio could well help.

I noticed a lot of you are recommending more cardio, however i've also read the weight lifting is as important if not more important to lose weight, hence my tendency to lift more than do cardio.
Weight lifting is important mostly because it aids to maintain LEAN mass as you lose weight -> so it help you 'look pretty' at the end of it all.

What i'm suprised about is that i think i look in the mirror like i've gained muscle in my arms and legs however the pics do not show it. Especially when i'm working out it looks like it. I may calm down my training to 3x a week and focus only on cutting
Sounds like a better plan to me.

euclid

03-01-2011, 08:43 AM

If there is one thing I've learned about fat-loss over the years it is to be diligent and to be patient.

To give you a "For Instance" scenario, I am 5'8" and when I was 220 and >30% bodyfat I cut on 2500 calories down to 200 lbs. I didn't have a special diet, but focused on eat lean proteins, green lefy veg & complex carbs. I didn't care about macros. I lost weight regularly down to 200 lbs when I reduced my cals to 2200 and went from there.

The key for me was to measure everything & weigh everything. If you eyeball your calories you will fail. If I were you, I'd not eat more than 2500 calories a day. I wouldn't worry about a re-feed and I wouldn't "cheat." Because, after-all, cheating means you get some sort of positive reward with no real consequence.

Matthew27027

03-01-2011, 02:52 PM

I've lost about 20 pounds in 9 weeks by eating right, lifting heavy and do lots of cardio.

Tuesday: arms
Wednesday: back
Friday: shoulders
Saturday: legs
Sunday: chest

I do about 30 minutes of light cardio everyday ( walk my dog) and 1 hour of medium to high intensity cardio 2 times a week. I try and work abs every other day.

Right now I'm eating about 2100 calories and don't eat carbs after 4 pm.

This has worked well for me so far.

Hope this helps

TrueQBN

03-01-2011, 05:28 PM

If you track every single thing you put into your body for 2-3 weeks, and take in <2000 calories a day, you will see a significant drop in weight at some point.

My assumption is that your not measuring correctly. Its EXTREMELY easy to miscalculate portion sizes, and by that, you can very easily end up eating your maintenance calories, preventing weight loss.

Technical Calculators and resourceful information =/= Practical results.

03-03-2011, 06:15 PM

Use your BMR of 2294 via http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Get the myfitnesspal app on your phone.

Record everything you eat and all the exercise you do.

Don't rely on guesstimating activity levels into your BMR.

BuckeyeRideR

03-03-2011, 07:22 PM

Just wanted to update every1 here. I've decided and i guess concluded that pigging out on Saturday as my supposedly "cheat meal" blew everything off. I'm now counting cals everyday of the week and will not go above 2000cal. I already went from about 238 this weekend, to 233 in a matter of 2 days.

JaySingh

03-04-2011, 02:26 AM

armyworrell

03-06-2011, 02:31 AM

Rest is more important than you think also, you need a rest day within that 7 days that you train man.

elecious

03-11-2011, 12:49 PM

why did you wait 8 weeks before you weighed yourself?

If you weighed yourself once a week at the same point under the same conditions you could have found out a lot earlier things weren't working and then done something about it, maybe for every week you don't lose weight knock another 250cals off your total daily amount until you see results

jamesyboi

04-16-2011, 09:26 PM

Try cut your weight training back to 4 days a week to allow for more growth.

You can do more cardio on the off-days and cardio 'after' lifting on the 4 days.

VAnick

04-17-2011, 06:31 AM

My new plan:
-this weekend do a re-feed
-aim for 2650 cals/day based off of my 3650 maintenance cals to lose 2lbs/week
-Maybe change my lifting routine, should I?
-Add more cardio?

Don't be retarded. You said you ate at 2k cals for 8 weeks and DID NOT LOSE A POUND. Why do you think eating at 650+ calories per day will help you lose weight, along with adding a cheat meal?

Drop the ****ing calories. 1800 for a few weeks to test loss. Or hey...how about some damn cardio? Eating more does not result in weighing less. Your BF is high, so you have plenty of calories to take from fat. You will not "starve" and you will not "shutdown" until you are very much smaller. I would actually go down to 1500 cals for a few weeks, keeping protein high. If you fail to lose weight at that level, than you are obviously sucking pretty bad a counting - which I suspect is the problem in the first place.

Lacerator

04-18-2011, 09:03 AM

Don't be retarded. You said you ate at 2k cals for 8 weeks and DID NOT LOSE A POUND. Why do you think eating at 650+ calories per day will help you lose weight, along with adding a cheat meal?

Drop the ****ing calories. 1800 for a few weeks to test loss. Or hey...how about some damn cardio? Eating more does not result in weighing less. Your BF is high, so you have plenty of calories to take from fat. You will not "starve" and you will not "shutdown" until you are very much smaller. I would actually go down to 1500 cals for a few weeks, keeping protein high. If you fail to lose weight at that level, than you are obviously sucking pretty bad a counting - which I suspect is the problem in the first place.

about time someone said it.

tonytoo

05-08-2011, 05:44 AM

@OP:

how are you counting your calories? off the nutrition facts on the label or are you preparing home food and going online to calculate it?

what does your lifting routine look like? can you post it? what kind of cardio are you doing? what is HR at while you do this? what does your macros look like? macros = total Pro/fat/carb in grams each day?

btw, I would eyeball your daily BMR at around 2600-2700 calories a day doing NO calculations and from your pics and what i read in first few posts. may want to shoot for just 2400/day ~ exactly. and then add in 40 minutes of cardio a day, x5 days a week. cut your lifting to 3 - 4 days a week.

@OP

Also, you don't need a cheat meal. - Period. (at least not unless if your doing a keto diet but even then you still dont over 15% bf and your like 30+%)

chrisITALIA

05-08-2011, 08:50 PM

- Eat 2000 calories per day (Yes count your calories, don't estimate)
- Lift 5 days per week, Layne Norton Strength/Hypertrophy is a good routine (http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Layne_Norton%27s_Power/Hypertrophy_Routine)
- Get atleast 200g of protein per day, sufficient fat

I guarentee you will lose alot of fat doing this. That's all you have to do.
Eat whatever you want as long as you hit 200g of protein and a sufficient amount of fat per day and hit 2000 calories (no more than that).

It's calories in vs calories out. You don't even need to incorporate cardio doing this.
Also refeed is not needed.

koatliki

05-09-2011, 09:25 AM

DR_P

05-14-2011, 12:12 PM

Your maintenance is NOT 4200 calories bro.... 100% Confirmed via your non weight loss and of course, more importantly, common sense.

Ronnie Coleman might have a maintenance level 4500 kcal, hehe ;)

SOJA

05-14-2011, 01:31 PM

Buy digital gram scale.
Signup for dailyplate or similar site.
Weigh food.
Eat at 1700-1900.
30 minutes of huffing and puffing cardio 4x a week.
Weight lifting 5-6x a week.

Lose weight.

sawoobley

05-14-2011, 04:35 PM

HOWEVER IMO i think i should be losing weight no matter what b/c i am eating A LOT better than before i started. (fast food, 12 pack of coke in 1 night, eating out probably 8 times a week, ice cream, pretty much eatin everything!)

^^^^^ How is it possible to go from eating so bad, to eating very healthy , and not lose any weight in 8 weeks?

Losing weight is not so much about the quality of food you eat but rather calories in versus calories out. As long as you hit your protein and fat macros and you are getting the necessary nutrients your body needs your good.

Ok calculated my maintenance calories via 2 different equations and averaged them out, they are 3645cals. So to lose 2lbs/week I would have to eat <1000cals/day. Which would equal 2645cals/day. Is that OK?

So why haven't i been losing 3lbs/week at 2000cal/day? This doesn't make any sense to me. I don't understand why i haven't been losing weight. Unless i'm gaining ridiculous muscle mass, which to myself i am looking bigger and the wife says i look real skinny since i've started.

I've been reading other threads about people in the same situation. I may try a re-feed, or eat maintenance cals for a week and then start over. I was thinking maybe i should just stay on 1lb/week deficit.

I'm going to post some pictures tomorrow of my 2 month progress.

No this is not ok. You generally want to keep calorie deficits under 1000. If you don't your body tends to try and adapt to it anyways and can negatively affect your results. Ideally, a calorie deficit between 400-700 is good. Plus it will spare your lean body mass. Losing 1-2 lbs a week on average is a good rate.

I eliminate carbs whenever i can and aim to eat foods with the highest protein.

No need to avoid carbs. Just hit your protein macros and you'll be fine. Carbs are good bro. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Looks like lost a minimal amount of belly fat. Not good for 8 weeks. Definitely need to reevaluate your diet and routine. 20 minutes of cardio seems way to low for me. I do at least 40 minutes most days.

He can't control where the fat comes off. It's the total amount that matters. It's also useful if you follow your body measurements along with your weight loss. It tells a more complete story.

Wherever your weight loss stalled at then drop your calories down by 500 and see how it goes from there.

Good luck. You have made some progress just keep at it.

drvali

05-23-2011, 01:47 PM

BuckeyeRideR: Just a thought, you might think about what you actually do during the time your not at the gym.

Since multiplier you use to check your needed calories levels does not work for everyone... Example: If you get payed to sit on a chair (work), and almost never walk (take car/public transportation), and only work arms (what % of your total muscles are worked there?), then you barely burn any calories past your BMR.

So using the formula:
BMR = (lean mass in kg x 21.6) + 370
- or -
BMR = (lean mass in lb / 2.2 x 21.6) + 370

From your pictures, you might be ~30% BF (more or less, might be way off here)
So:
238 lb @ 30%BF = 71.4lb fat & 166.6lb lean mass.
166.6 / 2.2 * 21.6 + 370 = ~2000 calories

Now, since you sit on a chair all day long, drive to work and so on, your TDEE multiplier is probably 1.1, but since you go to the gym "a bit", and run from time to time, it can go to 1.2 (unlike someone working in construction moving bricks all day long that goes to the gym the same as you, he would have 1.5-1.6)

So, your base is: 2000 * 1.2 = 2400 calories.

Now, for your gym:
20 min cardio (prob treadmill) will burn you ~100-150 calories? (for me 30min run at 2-4% incline and 4 miles gives 450 calories on the treadmill, less in reality)

For the weights, I noticed you added abs in a day by themselves, and if you classify that as a gym day, and the fact that you split one workout in two days, then you can't be burning more then 300 calories every time you work out.

So, back to the math:
M: 2400c - 300 gym - 150 run = 1950c
T: 2400c - 300 gym - 150 run = 1950c
W: 2400c - 300 gym - 150 run = 1950c
T: 2400c - 200 1/2 gym = 2200c
F: 2400c - 200 1/2 gym = 2200c
S: 2400c - 300 gym = 2100c
S: 2400c - 300 gym - 150 run = 1950c
--------
Total energy spent of:
1950 + 1950 + 1950 + 2200 + 2200 + 2100 + 1950 = 14300
Total energy consumed:
2000*7 + cheat meal = 14000 + cheat meal / week.
- Say the cheat meal was in the 2000c, then we rounded it 14000.
So, you have a balance of -300c per week.
At an 8 week period: 2400c @ 3600c/1lb fat = 0.66lb fat lost.

Now, say you have a pretty good scale, digital, and it shows 238 on the dot from day 1 to last day, where did this 0.66lb went?

Well, when you have a ton of fat to lose you can gain some muscle while losing fat...
(as you mentioned, you gained some muscle)

This is why: When you use your muscles, they use glycogen, and when you replenish that glycogen (from carbs), given enough energy, muscles get bigger (to simply put it).
Now, you been having 2 protein drinks per day (assuming you counted those calories, and you took them before/after gym), then at the gym, your muscles used the protein from those drinks to repair the damage done to the muscles, and the rest gets transformed to sugar so it can replenish the glycogen reserves.

What this means, your gym / cardio used the energy given from your protein shakes.
(better than nothing, but not ideal for losing fat...)

Now, when you calculate calories, you did it by day, but your body does it in real time.
So, if you eat, you get fat, then once all that energy is in your fat livel/cells you begin to lose fat.

Problem is, when it starts to get energy from fat reserves, it thinks it's starving, so it will go colder (take your temperature and you will see), this in turn uses less energy (so that 1.2 multiplier will go down, even under 1 for some time).

Now, since you mentioned that you eat a "huge" meal on saturday, along with 6 crackers, this is what's happening: during the day, before that meal, your body cools down (so it's using fat, but not at the 2400c a day rate, maybe at 1800), then you give it allot of fat/protein/carbs. Carbs spike your insulin, and all that energy needs to be stored.
If you eat lets say 1500c there, your workout used 300 calories, some glycogen (mostly replenished by the time you eat), so you will store most that energy to fat (witch you will use the rest of the day)

So, during your 8 weeks, the -2400c balance you should have lost is probably lost because of that big break without eating and the one big meal.

So, that is why you lost almost no weight.

To lose weight (really easy when you have allot to lose... been there) what you have to do is this:
- find foods that you like, BUT are not calorie dense (I had the rule of not eating anything that has more than 2 calories per 1 gram of cooked food)
- eat every ~3h (that way you use energy to digest, you don't store much as fat, and you can eat about 10-20% more)
- don't eat before cardio (if you want it to use some fat for energy)
- run till your legs fall off
- eat some protein before gym, and push as hard as you can at the gym, with the biggest muscles you have (no biceps crap... use chest, back & legs)
- don't eat much after run or gym (you might lose a bit of muscle, but you use allot more fat)