I was another one that had to up calories to lose. Supposedly 1800 cals a day is the golden number for keeping your metabolic rate constantly in that "fat burn" mode, but this info was coming from a doc who was addressing me as someone he considered at "athlete" fitness level, so take your daily activity into perspective.
I can't eat that much in a day, so I cut out all the lowfat stuff and that makes it easier to hit with three meals since I don't remember, nor have a desire to snack. I drink two protein shakes a day to keep my calories around 1500-1800 mark and I usually hit them with an extra shot of 1/2 cup whole milk, and two frozen bananas. Then i've usually got the energy to do everything that I do throughout the day and I don't need 10-12 hours of sleep to feel refreshed afterwards. I don't even take naps anymore.
I dropped 6 lbs and counting since I started it about a week ago and my weight is a pretty gradual and steady loss every day. I love always seeing the decimal number get smaller until finally i'm down a pound, and right now i'm losing about 1-2lbs a week.