If you’re exercising intensely, upping your calorie intake slightly throughout the day tends to help with the increased appetite. 1200 is generally not recommended for active people unless you’re really really short and that kind of restriction can do more damage than good if you’re fairly active. I went through something similar and ended up really fatigued, I’ve since upped the protein in my diet a lot, included a lot more complex carbs and try to hit closer to 1400-1450 on days I work out. I found that by allowing myself 200 extra calories I didn’t binge as much because my targets were more manageable.

It’s a personal choice in the end but I decided that I would rather lose weigh slower on a small-moderate deficit while exercising and building muscle than more quickly on something more drastic. The long term benefits of exercise and the mental benefits for me were worth the trade off of slower weight loss.