Stopped counting calories, still losing weight!

I actually think its quite easy to be overweight on a plant based diet. I was an overweight vegan

I've been vegetarian for 44+ years now, eating huge amounts of home-cooked whole foods (emphasis on the "huge"). I got fat, then obese. I stayed obese for decades. Then I got very active, working out routinely and hard, even competing as an athlete, still eating the same way. I got stronger and much fitter, but stayed obese . . . for another decade. Then I lost weight, eating pretty much the same foods I always had, just cutting the portions and changing some relative proportions of certain things, and, yes, calorie counting. That was 3 years ago, and I'm still at a healthy weight, still very active athletically, age 63.

I don't think that counting calories is the only way to lose weight. Different strategies work for different people. I understand the issues & constraints of veganism pretty clearly (it's not just an eating method, BTW). I'm quite certain that I could've and would've done the same life story above while eating no animal-sourced foods whatsoever. Others' experience, including yours, may differ.

I couldn't eat the way you're eating now, not at all: It's an issue of personal preferences and tastes. Many of the things you're enjoying, I don't find tasty or satisfying. (That's not a criticism, it's just a comment about ways we're different. Different strokes, live and let live, alla that.)

At 1600 calories (more or less, I know you're not counting), I also don't think I'd be getting the nutrition I prefer, either, eating those things. Obviously, I can't know for sure, but it doesn't sound like a consistent 100g protein minimum, something that's important to me. I also care about a fat minimum (around 50g, though that's a bit more flexible day to day), and preferring much of it to be MUFAs and PUFAs. While I strongly suspect your current eating has at least that much fat, I'm more doubtful about how it will work out with your routine starting in January, since you're planning to avoid added oils and cooking with oils. With things like olives, avocados, seeds and nuts in there, it could be fine, though.

I don't really see the point of explicitly limiting packaged/processed foods, though my food preferences mostly include primarily the more basic ones, plus lots of home-cooked single-ingredient things (often plants).

Like you, I'd lose on either 1400, 1600, or 1800, too. That's because I estimate my TDEE to be in the low 2000s, (at 5'5", 134 pounds this AM); that's based on 4 years of logging experience (because I do calorie count). Any of those 1400-1800 eating levels would be a deficit for me, so I'd lose weight, just at slightly different rates.

I wouldn't judge you for counting/not counting, vegetarian/WFPB/vegan/omnivore, processed/not, packaged/not, fast/slow food, restaurants/home, or any of those preference things. Why? If it's working for you, go you! I like to see people get sound nutrition and enough calories (counted or not) to stay strong and healthy while achieving weight management goals, but that's about where my judging ends. Reading between the lines of your post, I do wonder whether you may be judging the rest of us, though.