Confused about the amount of calories I should be eating

Me too, plus I am breast feeding, so If you add that and then exercise it's over 2000. But I don't start at 1200, mine is almost 1500 cals to reach my personal goals on MFP.

I never ever ever understand when someone says they struggle to eat 1000 calories.

Eat smarter. There are foods that are still healthy that are higher in calories (ex. Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, etc).

If you are having trouble meeting protein goals - try adding a whey protein supplement.

Do you mean that you are struggling psychologically to eat more than 1,000 calories a day? My doctor told me I should be eating around 1,400 calories a day but I was afraid to eat "that much" so I was at 1,200 for a couple months. I knew it wasn't ideal but I was okay eating only 1,200 because I wasn't doing much exercising, but when I started working out hard almost every day and going for super long walks/hikes, I started feeling weak and tired and a little hungry. I finally came clean to my trainer that I was only eating 1,200 and he was very alarmed. For my level of physical activity, I should be eating 1,600-1,800 a day to lose weight and build muscle. He convinced me to eat more and although I struggled psychologically with that concept at first, I feel so much better now that I'm eating more. It's actually not that hard to add a few hundred calories without consuming a lot of food. Just make sure you're adding in good stuff and not just helping yourself to cake or fries. Here are some easy things I did to add more calories:

Slice half an avocado and add to my turkey-spinach sandwich
Toss a few toasted walnuts in my morning oatmeal
choose a fatty fish like salmon if I'm going to have fish
eat salmon and fatty fish at least a couple times a week
have a handful of toasted almonds with my apple as a snack
saute veggies in extra virgin olive oil instead of just steaming
have a yogurt and fruit smoothie after a long workout instead of just water
pack snacks to eat after a workout instead of waiting for the next meal time to eat

The most important thing my trainer told me was that I need to eat more to lose fat while building muscle. I can still lose weight at 1,200 calories but my body composition won't change. The whole reason for me working with him is to help me build muscle so not eating enough is just a big waste of money and effort on my part. I feel so much better and it's getting easier to accept that I have to eat more. Lots of people struggle with this concept.

Right so I'm still confused...am I right in saying....

I worked out the following:

Your Basal Metabolic Rate is: 1454 calories.

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure Is: 1745 calories

So taking 20% off for weight lose i should be eating 1369 - but this is lower than my BMR...should I up this to 1450 to cover this???

Sounds like you don't have a lot to lose, yes, never eat below your BMR so you should up your calories to at least 1454 and preferably higher if you are exercising.