What is wrong with my plan - gaining instead of losing!?

Go to http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/ - John Walker's online book "The Hacker's Diet" and read the chapters on "The Rubber Bag" and "Signal and Noise." It's possible that you were just unlucky: that on August 8 you had a particularly low amount of water in your body, and today was particularly high.

It's also possible that you're overestimating calories burned by exercise. Even when I'm doing high intensity intervals or tempo workouts on my bike, I burn many fewer calories than MFP estimates.

I'd advise daily weigh-ins using Walker's exponentially smoothed weighted averaging, to get a sense of whether there's a real trend in your weight, and if you really are maintaining at your current level of activity, cutting back more on the calories.

Good luck!

Looking at your diary i would suggest to eat more consistently throughout the day and cut way back on the sodium intake.. Try having a breakfast lunch and dinner with snacks in between.

Mine typically are around:
Breakfast 500c
Morning Snack 250c
Lunch 500c
Afternoon Snack 250c
Dinner 500c

Lots of water and stop eating 4k mg of sodium a day.

Hope this helps.

He's probably not gaining muscle.. he looks like a bigger guy.. and if your over 5'6 the calorie amount seems right (lower to where he should see some difference). I looked at your diary after you opened it and there are somethings I can recommend.
Log everything you eat, make sure you measure it (digital scale) and record it.. Homemade stuff make sure you enter it in the recipe builder thing to get an accurate calorie count. Try to reduce your out to eat meals/take out items, try to cook from home until you get your numbers under control (those are estimations for what your eating you could be 500+ over) and Stop eating your exercise calories for the moment until you get your numbers under control.

You probably gained muscle

doubtful

You have a high sodium intake and, unless you are not logging it, drinking virtually no water. I find that my water intake really does make a difference in what I see on the scale.

My typical day is:

---

BREAKFAST SHAKE or BREAKFAST SANDWICH (200 calories)

Who's breakfast sandwich...is it homemade...some commercial brand that clearly has labeled calories and serving proportions? Just because the data base says, "breakfast sandwich 200 calories" doesn't mean YOUR breakfast sandwich is necessarily 200 calories. You'll either have to go off of labels of a commercial brand or do a recipe builder. Also, watch your servings...I shouldn't have to say this, but so many people log 1 serving of something because the package says 1 serving = 120 calories or something...but they don't read below that where the package says it contains multiple servings...so people eat 2 or 3 servings thinking they're only eating one.

The most important aspect of all of this is consistency in logging and weighing and measuring everything and being as accurate as possible. that said, my guess is that your initial weigh in was on a light day and your second weigh in was on a "heavy" day. Weight fluctuates all of the time and day to day with just water (among other things)...so you could have weighed in initially while retaining less water than you did on your second weigh in. This is why your weight loss needs to be tracked as a general trend over a much longer period of time.

I agree with the sodium explanation. You are eating way too much sodium. And watch those home made meals that your putting them through the recipe calculator. Especially soups, stews and casseroles.

If your having a burger you're better off entering each individual ingredient used such as 2 strips of bacon, 4 oz ground sirloin or 4 oz's ground chuck (can make a big difference) or 2 slices of cheddar cheese vs 1 slice of american cheese.. and the bun can make a difference as well. Some buns are whole grain, some are multi grain and then there is the all white bread or kaiser roll types which are larger and denser than most regular buns. I have a feeling your not only way over in sodium but way over in calories as well.

I'm going to have to agree with the majority here and say that your logging is not as accurate as you think. You may be consuming more calories than you think but justifying it by logging it as less calories than it actually is. My advice is to make more food at home, log it, so that you can get used to the portions you should actually be eating. Your diary is full of vague entries.

Also, water is the best weight loss supplement. I gained 5 lbs over the weekend, drank over a gallon on monday, then found myself back to the weight i was before the weekend. could be water weight.

Also, for a guy your size, i think you should consume more protein, because if you lose muscle mass, you will decrease your own metabolism. With the increase in muscle size, you increase your body's ability to metabolize calories for energy. boom.

Does THC in THCguy refer to Marijuana? It is nearly impossible to lose while smoking. Just asking, please do not take offense. I am not anti pot at all.

Oh, and as others have noted. WATER!!!!!

Your sodium looks high to me and I'm sure the 4 pieces of Pizza Hut pizza didn't help matters. Sept. 5th wasn't a very good day either and you ate almost 4x the recommended sodium and over double the grams of fat you were supposed to have. It looks like you're eating a lot of high calorie, high fat, high sodium things. You should aim for lower throughout the whole day.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

^^ Read this. I was amazed when I bought a digital food scale at how inaccurately I was recording.

This.

Also, I stopped eating as much added sugar as possible. I also don't skip meals, I eat 6 small meals throughout the day, I drink 8-12 cups water a day, etc.

It isn't just about calories, it's about all the foods. ALL THE FOODS. And your macros are very important to being successful imo.

I think your calories may be OK at 1900 but you definitely need to cut back on the processed stuff and have more whole grains, lean proteins and veggies.