Determined but without support network

Hi. I weighed myself today for the first time in almost two years. I realized that in these past two years, I gained around 20 lbs. I should have spent the last two years *losing* 20 lbs, not gaining another 20. I've never dieted. The weight has just crept up during the past decade. At my most fit in my 20s, I weighed around 135 and had a 29" waist and felt fantastic. Now, having recently turned 40, I weighed myself to find that I weigh 199 lbs.

I don't eat desserts and sweets. I don't eat refined starches. I don't drink soda. I'm a vegan and mostly eat a lot of vegetables, whole grains, legumes, some processed soy foods. I drink red wine with meals -- my weakness. I bike to work and to get everything I need, but I'm a 10-15 minute ride away from either the office or the store, all flat roads, so I don't get tons of exercise from it. I work in an office where I spend most of my time glued to my computer. Aside from dealing with chores at home (cooking, cleaning, taking care of 3 feline rascals), I often spend my evenings there at my computer, as well, reading or streaming things, Skyping with friends.

I guess that I need to address that although I generally eat healthy foods that I eat too much and that I really, really need to get more exercise. Most of my local friends are uninterested in getting out to move around and most of them could stand to lose a few pounds, themselves. I'm pretty much on my own in terms of scheduling activity for myself. I don't have the funds to join a gym (and am not sure that even if I could, I'd feel comfortable with my weight right now to be exercising in public at a place where most seem to be fit and maintaining that fitness). I've actually had some friends tell me that I'm being fat-phobic and displaying low self-confidence in asserting that I really need to lose weight, but the truth is that I weigh more now than I ever have in my life and it's neither healthy nor attractive and I want to change it. I've had other friends recommend specific fad diets, but I'm not interested in a fad diet. Right now, I want to shed pounds, in as healthy a way that I can do so. I want to make a big difference, and to then keep chipping away until I'm at a good weight.