less than 1200 calories per day?

NO!!! If you're cutting calories only go down to 1600 per day. Eating this unhealthy has disastrous effects on the cells in your body and you may not realize the consequences immediately but they will catch up to you. Also it's not only the amount of calories you eat but the source of the calories. Eat lots of protein and cut down the complex carbs (white bread, candy, coke, etc...). Eat 6 small meals a day and try to pick up the pace on a treadmill. Sprint at intervals of 1 minute (if this is too hard sprint for as long as you can) and then reduce the speed a jog for a minute or two as you recover. This will keep your metabolism faster throughout the day, even after you're out of the gym.

If you truly were "not looking for a quick and dramatic fix", you would be eating 1600 calories a day, since anything below that actually slows your metabolism. You need fuel to burn fat, so go take a nutrition class and stop thinking you're being clever by undereating.

well it really depends on what you eat if you had enough proteins and carbs and calcium etc. daily its fine but remember starving yourself will make you lose muscle mass not fat so recomend that you eat enough healthy lipids carbs and protein thats found in bread potatoes pasta and protein in eggs,milk,nutsand meats and also have enough water and sleep + enough strength and cardio work like jogging cycling and swimming +pushups.put some effort and then you are alright so good luck and remember to keep count of your calories consumed per day

its not a HUGE problem but i advise you to keep around 1200. if you eat too much more or too much less it could have a serious affect on your weight and health