Confused on calories??????

The amount of calories you take in depends on a variety of things.... this much I know.  It depends on how much excercise you do, if you are trying to maintain or lose weight, your height and of course your weight.  Ok so my question is for me what is good?    I started out one year ago tomorow @ 425lbs with a bmi of 57.6   I am now 273lbs with a bmi of 36.1   I would love to be an even 200lbs with a bmi of 27 now mind you I am 6ft tall. I excercise about 3-4 times a week walking anywhere from 8- 10 miles a week.   My nut says dont focus to much on calorie intake but do stay away from sugars and carbs and load on protein.  Like every one else my weight loss has slowed tremondously. How many calories do I need????                                                     Denise

If you google basal metabolic rate, I am sure there are calculators out there that will help you with this.  This will tell you how many calories you burn just be living and so forth.

It really depends on how much your metabolism has been screwed up by years of dieting and by surgery, as well as your exercise level, and the amount of muscle you have.  A good way to start is to look for someone who does metabolic testing - some good gyms do it, and some doctor's offices.  They can give you a pretty good idea what your basal metabolic rate is - and if you eat about that much or slightly less you should continue to lose weight as long as you exercise. I have not had this tested, but I am 10 months out and 275lbs - my BMI is higher than yours, I'm a foot shorter than you.  My surgeon has be at 100g protein and 1200 calories, as much fiber as possible, healthy fats, and complex carbs should make up the rest of my diet besides protein.  I keep carbs around 100-120g/day, 20-40g of that coming from fiber.  I am losing steadily and haven't had a slow down since about 5 months out. 

I would recommend keeping track daily what you consume on one of the internet free calorie programs like fitday.com or sparkpeople.com.  I use my-calorie-counter.com  ... been there for a couple of years and didn't want to move everthing. I am only @ 7 months and my NUT says no more that 1,000 calories for me.  I pretty much stay in that zone but do occasionally get to 11-1200 with a higher calorie content item like a ribeye steak, etc. You may be amazed at what you are eating if you don't actually track your intake.  It will also help you to see where you are and you can tweak it based upon others responses.  Say you track your intake and find that you are eating and average of 900 calories.  Increase it to 1,100 for a week and see if that makes a difference in your weight loss.  Your exercise is excellent so keep that up!