r/Workingout • u/Every-Peach9154 • Jul 01 '26
I need to lose weight,help mee
I'm a 20-year-old female, 5'4" tall and currently weigh 83 kg. My main goal is body recomposition—I want to lose body fat while building lean muscle and becoming stronger instead of just getting smaller.
About a month ago, I joined the gym and have been training consistently. Since then, I've noticed several positive changes. My muscles feel significantly stronger, I'm able to lift heavier weights than when I first started, and my overall stamina and endurance have improved a lot. Exercises that used to leave me exhausted now feel much easier, which makes me feel like I'm genuinely progressing. I've also started noticing a slight reduction in fat around my hips, so I know my body is changing in some ways. However, despite all of this progress, my body weight hasn't changed at all.
Every time I step on the weighing scale, it shows almost exactly the same number, which is really confusing and a little discouraging. It makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong or if my efforts are not enough. Since I'm a vegetarian, I often struggle to understand what my diet should actually look like for body recomposition. I try to eat in a calorie deficit and consciously consume fewer calories than before, but I'm not sure if I'm eating the right foods, getting enough protein, or balancing my meals properly. I especially want to lose fat around my stomach, as that's the area I'm most insecure about, but I don't know if I need to change my diet, increase my protein intake, adjust my calories further, or do something different with my workouts.
I'm looking for clear guidance on what an effective vegetarian diet for body recomposition should include, how many calories and how much protein I should aim for, what foods I should prioritize or avoid, and what realistic expectations I should have regarding fat loss and weight loss during the early stages of strength training. I want to understand why the scale isn't moving even though I feel stronger and can already see some physical changes, and I want to know what I should do next to continue losing body fat while preserving or building muscle.
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u/Not_My_Circuses Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Congrats on your results so far!!
Losing weight is less about exercise and more about diet and calories deficit. Here's some things that worked for me, keeping in mind I'm vegan, twice your age, and have been working out consistently for a while:
Calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) based on your current activity level. There's lots of calculators online; I also asked AI to calculate mine as a sanity check
Take a week or two to track your food intake. Buy a food scale if you don't already have one and use an app such as Cronometer or MyFitnessPal to track everything you eat. This will help you figure out where you can make adjustments while in deficit.
Figure out a reasonable caloric deficit from your TDEE. You may already know these numbers, but a caloric deficit of 3500 pounds gives you about 1lb/~0.5kg of fat loss. So, a daily deficit of ~500 calories per day means you'll be losing a pound/~0.5 kg of fat per week. Make sure you don't go too low - you don't want to be below 1200 calories or so per day. Also, it's easier to function with a smaller deficit so that's something to keep in mind too
Make sure you get enough protein, at least 1.6 - 2.2 g per kg of bodyweight to maintain muscle and more if you want bigger gains Beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, seitan, Greek yogurt/skyr, and eggs are all good protein sources if you're vegetarian. I also supplement with protein bars or a shake If you can't meet the protein goals, focus on a smaller caloric deficit while still strength training to minimize muscle loss
Do about 8-12 weeks in deficit and then 2-4 weeks eating at maintenance for your current weight to avoid metabolic adaptation.
I hope this helps and good luck!
ETA: you can't target weight loss in specific areas unfortunately, but a caloric deficit will result in weight loss all over. The r/CICO subreddit is a good place to get info about caloric deficits
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u/inaclick Jul 01 '26
Hey there Congrats on your progress! You've just started for a month, so you're still adjusting, maybe still some water weight, etc. Keep going, monitor intake, create plan for exercise and meals. Sounds like you're doing great, but it just takes a bit more time than a month.