It's counterintuitive because it's a myth. Or, rather, it's such a rare occurrence that it's not the first (or probably even second or third) thing a recently sedentary person should look at in answer to the question of "Why am I not losing weight???" The math of "eat more to lose more" works in a few corner cases, but if it were true across the board, nobody would have died of starvation in concentration camps. Far more likely, the culprit is a diet that is still too high in calories. Maybe OP cut out some things but what's left is still a very high-calorie diet. Maybe OP cut out a few things, but did more adding of "healthy foods" than substituting them for unhealthy foods -- peanuts are great nutrition, but if you simply add a handful of them to an unhealthy diet, it won't help you lose weight. Maybe (this one is very common) OP started exercising and immediately started eating more -- many people automatically increase their intake when they start exercising, reasoning that they "need" the calories. Who knows? There are a gazillion ways to add up to "calories in >= calories out", and that is overwhelmingly the cause of no weight loss, not "not eating enough calories". As the saying goes, when you hear hoofbeats, look for horses -- don't look for zebras.