How many calories should I be getting to loss 4 yrs out

Carol has given some good advice. You need to have a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day in order to lose a pound a week. Eating "more" does not cause weight loss. Eat less calories than your body needs and you will lose weight over time; however, it may not come off everyday or week. Patience is key.

If you are having trouble losing, you may be taking in too many calories. Do an online search for TDEE calculators and calculate your daily calorie needs. BE HONEST about your levels of activity.

You also have to be incredibly honest with yourself about your intake. Are you tracking every single thing you eat and drink? Are you weighing and measuring everything with measuring cups and a food scale? Without doing these things, you are most likely grossly overestimating how much you are eating/drinking. That's human nature. We had our surgeries on the exact same day and I am still not 100% comfortable estimating how much 3, 4, 5 oz of chicken, beef, fish, etc. really looks like.

I measure everything down to the teaspoon. It's hard to track on myfitnesspal because I have recipes out of this new cook book and I don't have the paid version of my fitness pal so I can't put in the carbs, protein etc. But other than that I'm tracking everything. The only thing I have to really work on is my water intake. some days are excellent while other days I may only get one or two cups in. Those days I always see a gain the following day. I"m weighing myself every day to keep on top of it. Because I sit most of the day even when I exercise I say that I'm sedentary because i'm not very active due to my injuries. I can't wait till I"m healed up and can be more active, it drives me crazy sitting on my butt all day. When I can get back to work it will be better cuz I hardly sit when I'm there for my 16 hr shifts. 

Hello.  Even with the free version of MFP, it will allow you to enter a new recipe into the database (go to Food/Recipes and select "Enter New Recipe" on the right side.  You can manually enter all ingredients, select a specific brand you use, # of servings and it will calculate protein, carbs, etc.  It's a pretty good tool tho it does require some patience and time for entering the data.  If you can find the same recipe online you can copy the web link into the same area of MFP and it will do the calculations for you.  

Also, there are some excellent online pages for sitting exercises that are used by people recovering from injuries, older folks or those with mobility issues.  some of those may help even just to get the blood flowing during those long shifts.

Good luck and well done for stopping the speeding train and turning it in a different direction -at least that's how it feels for me when I regain and get out of control.  I imagine the screeching train brakes, trying to stop it and then the slow,deliberate chugging sound in a different direction.  It gains speed as I gain control.  Sounds weird, I know but it's how I visualize my eating habits.

You don't need the paid version of mfp to upload or manually input the ingredients for a recipe & it will give you the nutritional information. No need to put anything in except the items & quantities. 

Agreed. The free version of MFP will do everything you need. 

Weigh, weigh, weigh. Do not measure your food with spoons or cups. Calories will be way off. Weigh the ingredients, put them in the MFP recipe function, then weigh your portion of the recipe you eat.

Calories are king.

Doing the same things day after day is boring for me. Plus my body gets used to the same things ...

What worked for me was calorie cycling. There are actually a lot of studies to support that. Google it. 

I would set a calories goal for me - I.e 900 per day..but based on weekly average. I would have 600 one day folowec by 1000 or 1200 the next day.  That way - I had My very restricted days and days I could eat more.. Not only that helped my weight - but also allowed me to have days when I would eat more... And could tell myself "not today - I 'll have xyz tomorrow or the day after. "

I used "one cheat meal" every few weeks where I could have anything wanted... Really anything. That worked well for me... Except some of the "whatever" meals made me really sick... And since I hate feeling sick... The cravings for food like that would go away for a very long time... I.e pizza - one of my "meals" was pizza - I forgot how sick that thing can make me feel.. I was sick for a days after... (gluten and dairy issues) ...now - BF can can as much pizza as he wants - I don't crave it ... I still feel -remember - the gut pain.. And gas and bloat...and cramps.. 

One of the best investments I could recommend to you is a food scale.  Measure everything in grams.  Grams equal milliliters in liquids.  You will get the most precise measurements that way.  This way you know there is absolutely no fudging in your weighing and measuring.  Cos measure cups, dry and liquid, are not as accurate as history would have us to believe.

Remember some of the rules - Protein first, then veggies. I know they say 60-80g a day, but I think in losing most people try to be at the higher end 80+ and carbs at 50g or less...

Again 64oz fluids is really a minimum...get more.

Don't drink with meals and for 30 minutes after...

Dense protein will make you feel full sooner and keep you full longer.

See the link for the 5 Day meat test...it might help you get back on track....

Good Luck