My recommendation would be to start out with a bigger eating window, maybe 16/8 and gradually shrink it after a few weeks. I would also say to track calories at least so you can get a handle on how much you’re eating in comparison to what you need to maintain/lose weight. I use MyFitnessPal and it was annoying in the beginning but now it’s become habit. Try breaking your fast with less carbs as this will help you from cravings and over eating. If you can stick with it for a few weeks it gets much easier. I’m 513 days on OMAD and got down to goal weight around 395 days in.
You feel hungry all the time because you are eating nutrient-light food, with your avoidance of meat.
Meat is the most nutrient-dense food there is, so a relatively little amount provides a bounty of vitamins and minerals that your body is almost certainly not getting enough of, if you’re feeling hungry all day long.
What you’re doing now is completely not sustainable imho, and you should strongly consider either adding meat, or at least a lot of eggs. If you refuse to, for other reasons, then realize that you’ll need to be eating much, much larger quantities of veggies to get your nutrition.
And honestly, just stop with the plant-based frankenfood — that stuff is the most highly processed “food” that exists. Completely loaded with inflammatory seed oils and tons of other non-food.
Fellow vegetarian here. I hear you on the carbs and cheese thing. My strategy for overcoming this is to always pair the foods that I would normally inadvertently eat a ton of with something that’s going to fill me up. I will just tell myself “okay you can have the [carbs, cheese, sugar] but start with half of what you want, eat it with something else, and see if the craving is still too strong to overcome when you’re done.” Usually I could take or leave the other half so I usually leave it.
I saw someone here post something about how you have to eat meat to fast well or be nourished. I do agree with them that eating the fake meats too often might not be in your best interest (although every now and again can be fine). However, if you’re eating plant proteins as well as eggs or dairy, I don’t see an issue, especially because that means you’re getting B12, omega -3, and, depending on the product, fortified vitamin D. I’m not sure how personally you took their comment, but I wouldn’t.
I know you said calorie counting is tedious, but I think it might be worth doing for just a week to see what your eating habits look like. If you feel like you’re starving all day, then it’s probably one of two things: too much of an insulin spike when you eat or you’re simply not eating enough food.