Can anyone tell me how many calories I should be eating a day?

To answer your question "can anybody tell me how many calories I should be eating a day?" No, nobody can.

There are too many variables in terms of your health and metabolism, and people very often misjudge calories or measure them wrongly.

Cut your portion sizes in half. Eat fruit when you're hungry, drink more water, fewer carbs, nothing out of a packet (cook from scratch and no preprepared snacks). Do it properly for 4 weeks and see how you go.

I am trying to lose weight.

Depends how fast and how sustainably you want to lose weight.

Aim for a calorie deficit of around 250 calories a day - that should be sustainable over a longish period.

But I'd recommend a fitness tracker as PP have said. If I do 28,000 steps in a day (not unusual for me on the weekend as I walk for pleasure) then my FitBit estimates I've expended around 2,800 calories: the walking and the general calories I expend just being alive. My baseline for that is around 950 calories I think.

Oh and my fat percentage was over 40% at a BMI of 27. It is now 23% at a BMI of 18.5 which is the minimum healthy BMI. My next goal is to build more muscle ideally now I've lost the fat. My arms and legs are toned and there is some muscle definition on my upper and side abs but I've still a small 'pooch'. Don't know if I can get that to go really as I have to be careful of my back and find only some stomach exercises comfortable. So you can be the lowest healthy weight and still want to gain more muscle tone, I'm afraid. I am pleased with my progress so far though.

no need to count calories if you're eating fresh whole foods, lean protein, good fats, avoiding (but not banning) processed foods and sugar.

Sorry but I needed to. I'd just lost sight of the right portion size for my needs. I live with people who burn more because they are taller and more muscular, I was eating the same as them.

Walking is good though. Helps promote good circulation, prevents dementia, is very relaxing and stress busting. It does tome the led walking muscles. When I decided just to run over the first lockdown and then started walking again I felt it! You use different muscles.

I'd keep the walking up but do some muscle building exercises too. Eat well, good balanced diet and make sure you get enough protein to build muscle. A small calorie deficit does help lose the fat though, I say that because I've done it at your weight and it helped. I lost fat and still gained muscle. I ran and walked and did resistance exercises as well.

if you are a seasoned walker and walk lots (ie nurses) the muscles become very efficient and don't burn as much as someone new to this form of exercise.
that's why changing exercise and muscle groups every so often is recommended.
if you're not loosing with good food choice and activity change up the activity (biking or resistance training).

And running and walking burns very similar amounts per mile traveled. Running just gets it done quicker!

Sorry link for the site.

tdeecalculator.net/

This site gives estimates TDEE rates for activity levels. I am 5 ft 7, weigh less than you and burn 2400 cals a day with a 6 mile run and a 3 mile walk.

If I skipped the walk I would burn just over 2000 cals which is what I would guess you are burning now overall.

5-6 miles is almost 2 hours activity/day - it counts as at least 'moderate' not light activity levels.

Erm it can burn quite a few calories depending on how far you travel roughly 100 cals burnt per mile. Soo 500 to 600 calories. Seem a pretty decent burn to me.

@pinkpopsss, well you can't spot reduce your fat. You can lose overall fat and tone you muscles. Aerobic exercise like your walking and some resistance exercises will achieve this. Dieting will help with fat loss but you need to ensure you keep up good nutrition to be able to build muscle.

@ImFree2doasiwant, it might be, it might not be. I've been over fat at that weight, (scales measure fat percentage) I'm the same height with a small frame. I'm much better towards the lower end of a healthy BMI.

5ft 7 and 10st 1 is really quite slim OP, how much are you hoping to lose?

My understanding is that no one should eat less than 1200 calories a day as a general rule. You are already a healthy weight and its concerning you would want to restrict your calories to that extent, please try and give your body what it needs x

You need to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and forget about your BMR
Deduct 500 from your TDEE and aim for that.

Okay, well a deficit of 500 calories a day (3500 a week) will lead to 1lb a week weight loss (roughly, average, blah blah) which is generally considered to be healthy and sustainable.

I have two further questions
(a) why are you going on your basal metabolic rate rather than your TDEE?
(b) what makes you think you need to lose weight?

Have you lost any weight yet?

A fitness tracker can give you a more personalised estimation of what you burn with your amount of activity. And if something doesn't seem to work you can tweak it,

How long have you been doing your weight loss plan?

How do you track your calories? What sort of food do you eat? When do you weigh yourself?