Do calories count? Of course they do.

By not eating enough can trigger your bodies starvation defense mode. When the body hits this it holds on for dear life of any fat and water it has and tears down lean muscle tissue for energy. This slows down your metobolism.

It takes 3200 EXTRA calories to make a pound of fat. 3200 calories your body didn't burn rebuilding cells, BMR (breathing etc), exercise, etc etc.

So not eating enough or going completely over board on calories can either shove you in one direction or the other. Learning the balance is the key.

Use the 10-12x your body weight as the bare minimum you need to be intaking to keep your BMR up. I normally take 1800 calories to maintain 150 pounds. I have plenty of room to drop down when I am ready to start the weight loss again without slowing my metobolism