Need some help and feedback on nutrition program

I am ready to do this! I've been a vegetarian for almost 10 years now and have in the past wanted to have a great body. And now I'm finally working on it! Since I wanted to avoid dairy products as sources of protein, I've switched to a mostly vegan diet. My goal at the moment is cutting (to lose those last pounds of baby fat). I wanna be really cut before I start to bulk.

My daily calorie goal: 1800

My daily protein goal: 100g

I'm 6 feet tall and weigh about 160 pounds.

This is what I've got so far:

Breakfast:

Oats with Ricemilk

386 cal.

9.8 prot

73.4 carbs

4.8 fat

Mid-morning: ?

Noon:

Veggie wrap with a vegetable burger

370 cal.

24 prot.

41 carbs

10 fat

Afternoon: ?

Dinner:

Brown Rice with white cabbage and soy ...(I forget the English word, it's the dry substance left over from producing soy milk, they sell it as well)

597 cal.

30 prot.

103 carbs

6 fat

So what I have now puts me at roughly 1360 calories and 64g of protein. I am looking to add those extra calories in the mid-morning and afternoon meals. I'm aiming for EASY things to prepare/eat and also fruit, because obviously I'm missing that now.

I really don't like to cook, so that's why I'm trying to keep it simple. I might swap out the rice with chickpeas and add tomato sauce, or brown rice noodles.

What are the thoughts on protein shake powders? I've read a lot of conflicting stuff about them, and every one I've tried has given me insane stomach cramps (think knives being stabbed in the gut). That's why I was trying to get more natural sources of protein. Although I'm up for testing other brands of protein powder as well, since it's so eeaaasy...

Regarding the 100g of protein: I've read that you can go anywhere from 1g to 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight (I weigh 74 kilograms). Most recommended I've found seems to be 1.8g per kilogram of body weight. So I've sort of taken the middle road with 100g. I've been training as a swimmer these past couple of months, and I had about 75g of protein a day (mostly through dairy) and already gained visual improvements in my muscular tone, so I think that 100g is a good starting point!

You are 6 feet tall and only eating 1800 calories a day? Plus you swim? Bump that up to 2300 and see how you feel. And 100g should be a solid protein intake for you.

If you plan on gaining muscle doing progressive resistance training every few days, then don't eat only 100g of protein. For someone who's 6', I would recommend 200g.

Thoughts on protein powder: absolutely vital. If you're not going to do anything for muscle building you don't need it. If you are, you do, because you don't want to get all your protein from foods since the calories add up. It's the most annoying part of being a weight lifter. You have to drink a quick protein shake with ~25g 5+ times a day every couple hours just so the other 100g of protein you eat a day isn't leaving you bulking too slow.

Sure, you can get by with it, but not if you're going to hit the weights more than once a week...

There's an amino acid profile chart somewhere in this forum with plant protein info. It appears that the best for muscle gain is gemma protein isolate ($5/lb from trueprotein.com).

You are 6 feet tall and only eating 1800 calories a day? Plus you swim? Bump that up to 2300 and see how you feel.

Is the 2300 to maintain my weight? Because I'm wanting to cut, I've got these stubborn pockets of fat that I wanna be rid of. The mistake I made last time when I was dieting to lose weight, I dieted mostly on carbs, and lost a lot muscle (my pecs melted away! ). You could call me "skinny fat" now .

My goal is tone up now by restricting calories, while at the same time keeping my protein up, so I don't lose muscle while losing weight. My reasoning for 1800 went as follows: 6 feet tall, 27 years old, so in total lethargy I burn around 2000 calories a day... If I do sports I'll probably burn around 2300 to 2500 calories a day. I read that a safe calorie deficiency is anything up to 500 a day. So I subtracted 500 from 2300.

You're right though that I sometimes felt like someone pulled the plug on me halfway during swim practice... so it's finding a good balance of having enough energy to burn while still making my body burn the stored fat, I guess. Learning soooo much!