Help with calorie count

5'8"
Female
159 pounds
31 years old

Measurements:
Waist - 32.5
Hips - 41
Thighs - 21.5

I've been on 1200 calories for a month now, half of which I've been using MFP.

I've lost an inch each around my hips, waist, and thighs, but the scale has not moved. My goal is to be around 147-150 because I feel my body looked best at that time.

A friend of mine is a fitness trainer and he said I need to raise my calories to 1500-1800 if I want to lose & that my body is starving. There have been a few days when I've been 200-300 calories under but I'm also sure to eat back my exercise calories.

I do eat a lot of not so great foods (I like pancakes for breakfast - plain w/out butter or syruo) but I've also added a lot of veggies to my diet like peppers & mushrooms. I know if I'll end up quitting if I'm miserable so I thought I would eat what I feel like eating so long as I keep track of and measure everything and stay within 1200 calories.

I don't want to permanently damage my body trying to lose weight but I also don't want to erase a month of work by raising my calories.

Thank you for any help!