Unexplainable Weight Gain (H2O, exercising, eating right)

Muscle doesn't weight more then fat, a pound is a pound.
BUT - Since a lb. of muscle is leaner and takes up less room then a lb of fat, you could be adding on the muscle while NOT losing much fat. Try incorporating HIIT training to rid the fat and it will also up your muscles' fat burning capacity.

I think 1400 calories is a fair goal and I'm pretty sure I'm meeting it (if not below). I'll try to track foods I actually make on my own but I still find it to be a difficult task.

It just takes practice. You'll get it. Weigh in grams when possible. So for example, if I make a pot of chili I put in all the ingredients, in grams, and then when it's done I measure how many cups the pot made. Usually it's 6 cups. So then I'd put in that it's 6 servings. That makes it easy to figure out my calories. If I eat 2 cups then it's 2 servings. You can also do it by weight. So say a serving is 100 grams. Then when you want to eat some, you weigh your portion. If it was 235 grams, you'd put it in as 2.35 servings in your diary. Make sense?

As stated a couple of times already, you're not gaining enough muscle mass eating at a deficit to constitute much of a change, if any. Muscle is built on a calorie surplus and hard work. You might be making some "newbie gains" if you're new at lifting, but it won't be enough to really worry about.

As far as weight gain, I personally wouldn't worry about it. The scale isn't going to tell the truth anyway. Its good for trending over a long time, but it can show anywhere from 2 lbs to 8 lbs gain over the course of one day, and that's simply not possible. You may be retaining water, which is often the case when lifting or exercise, it may be that you're body is holding on for a while and then you'll experience the "swoosh" effect and lose several pounds all of the sudden. There are several women on this site who will tell you that they actually weight more because of lifting over time, but their measurements and body composition are 10 times better than before. They've lost inches and body fat, but maintain and even built muscle.

Give yourself some time, a week or even a month sometimes isn't really worth measuring. I've been stuck going up and down and up and down but never losing anything for 2 months, then all of the sudden it's dropping at a steady rate and still dropping...and I even recently upped my calories, and that didn't seem to matter much with my weight loss. I am currently at my lowest (as of this morning) than I can ever remember being in the last 25 or more years. I also fully expect to be a lb or two heavier in the morning than I was this morning and probably even higher later in the week, but most likely will have a decent drop before the weekend is up or by this time next week.

If you are gaining or not moving after a couple of months, you might doing a little tweak here or there, maybe up your calories by a couple hundred at first, I know it seems counter-productive, but your body is designed to survive, and if it thinks it's not getting enough fuel, it will do what it needs to do to make it last and that often means a slower metabolism. You may have set yourself for a much faster goal than your body wants.

1) If you aren't accurately weighing and measuring your food, you're very likely eating more than you think you are. You must count everything. You say your diet is poor to moderate, but not fantastic. One or two days of a better diet isn't going to change things much. You need to count everything, including the ketchup and relish packets. Those add up! Honestly, weighing and measuring food takes practice, and a digital scale. Enter every single thing.

2) Muscle needs water to rebuild after lifting, so it is going to retain it. This is good.

3) You haven't been working out long enough to have gained any appreciable mass. Strength gains, probably. Mass, no.

If you're only doing a partial job at calculating what you eat, then you're not going to have the success you're hoping for. You can't make guesses and just hope for the best. Getting the food right is most of the battle. Grabbing a chip here or a bite of a cookie there will add up to hundreds of calories in a day if you're not careful.

@AngelAmberL Thanks for the advice and everything! I'll definitely give it a shot but I have a question for you, when I cook rice, do I count it when its cooked or before it's cooked? Or is there a value in MFP for both lol

Log the dry weight. Since the volume changes when it's cooked it's more reliable to find the dry weight in the database. That goes in general too, for meat, fruits, and veggies add "raw" when you search. So for boneless skinless chicken breast, you'd put "boneless skinless chicken breast raw" into the search field. Look for the one with no asterisk, it's the most accurate.

You're not gaining muscle in a week, but you may be retaining water for muscle repair. The scale went up a couple of pounds when I first started lifting. It should settle down in a couple of weeks if that's the culprit.

This - it's water weight.

Sebani, I was 134 when I weight on Sunday. The Wednesday before I was 129. Today, I am 131.... I know my actual weight is 129. It can have a lot of factors, TOM is a huge one. I am approaching mine....only a couple days a way and that can be a HUGE factor.

But 4 lbs of water weight??? :S Seems a bit.. much lol

When you start exercising you can store at least 3 - 4lb or glycogen and water in your muscles.

Also, you mention you were dehydrated before...and now you are not...that is more water weight.

People, no one gains pounds of muscle in one week lol