Gaining weight or muscle?

Well I'm fairly certain about the calorie consumption because I use the barcode scanner for almost everything. Anything that I cook, like meats or pastas, etc, I use measuring cups and a food scale. I generally don't add any flavors like cheese, butter, salt, etc. But as for exercise, the time spent and speed is accurate. The actual calories burned is what comes up when I type in the time spent doing it. I actually did increase my food intake when I started going to the gym to lift weights and do kettlebells from home. But I will increase my food intake some more and try TDEE

I meant in response to the TDEE method. It says I need to consume at least 1800 calories. The calories burned I am not positive of. That it just what pops up when I type in the time spent doing it. Which I don't take too seriously. Which is why I am trying to work out more. I want to be certain that I am burning enough. I sit at a desk all day for work. So if I'm not working, I'm trying to work out. The reason why I restricted my calorie consumption was because I was afraid that I wasn't burning enough with my desk job. That is why I have avoided the TDEE method for this long. I figured that it must be working since I lost that much weight. But then I had all the skin and was advised to try more weights to build muscle. I did that and found I was super hungry and was consistently told that I need more protein and told to try protein shakes. It was fine for about 3 weeks. But in the last week I have gained like 3 lbs. I suddenly gained weight faster than it took me to lose it. I know that it can fluctuate. Which is why I did not let myself worry until today. I didn't post this topic to ask for quick fix suggestions. I just wanted to know if I was suddenly doing something wrong. I only noticed the weight gain since I have started training more with weights, which I don't really log in, and since I started taking in more protein. The smaller stuff like the trail mix, I totally agree with. I don't know how they figure in the calorie total. I just scanned the barcode and ate a small amount, like suggested. It was just a snack to fill me up. Not a meal. But the chicken breast thing. That's where I have trouble with logging. My phone app doesn't allow me to see anything but the calories for foods that I type in and find in the database. Which is why I try to scan everything instead of search the database. I don't take every entry to be accurate. I just use it as a guideline. My only question really was whether or not I was making a mistake with trying protein shake for breakfast and before bed.

Is it possible you are confusing your TDEE with your BMR? Your BMR takes the calories you need to survive based on your lifestyle (the desk job + body stats). Then your TDEE factors in your activity level (workout 2, 4, everyday, etc). If you are using the TDEE number as your calories to hit, you SHOULD NOT be logging your exercise on top of it. While I think it's fine to keep a journal of your exercise routine, if you are adding activity calories back in you will most likely always run a surplus, not a deficit. Am I way off here?

BFDeal - lol I didn't take the calories burned seriously. I don't log everything I do for exercise and I don't trust that by walking/jogging for a certain length of time, I have effectively burned the number of calories that MFP says I did. It was just a guideline I use to know that I'm burning more than 600 calories a day. I feel like my desk job keeps me too immobile for too long. Most of my exercise (what is actually logged) is done during my work breaks and then an evening walk.