How do I reduce my body fat without losing weight? :s

BF% will go down when you lose fat, gain lean body mass (muscle, effectively), or both. Doesn't sound like a good plan to keep losing for you; the way I see it, you can do one of two things: (1) eat at / slightly above maintenance and lift pretty heavy (as heavy as you can manage and still do between say 5 and 12 reps before failure) on an established program; or (2) eat at a significant surplus (500 cals per day) and do the same thing.

With the former, you will slowly, slowly, slowly add some muscle and perhaps lose a bit of fat along the way (did I emphasize slowly?). With the latter you will hopefully add muscle mass more quickly - but you'll add fat, too. So after many months (seen min of 3 and better longer bulks recommended arounf here) of adding muscle (and fat), you'll have to diet again in an effort to lose the fat but keep all or most of the muscle this time around (by continuing lifting during your diet).

The former is often referred to around here as body recomposition; the latter as bulking (followed by a "cut" cycle of dieting). Many folks here do a series of bulk / cut cycles to try and add lean muscle more quickly than the recomp approach seems to offer - i.e., add 4 lbs of muscle and 4 pounds of fat, then lose 4 pounds of fat and 1 pound of muscle. And do it again. And again. At the end of the three cycles (which might take quite some time - more than a year potentially) you've not changed your overall fat weight, but you've added 9 pounds of lean mass. Or you've added some lean mass and dropped a few pounds of fat along the way.

I have seen a book titled New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROLFW) recommended around here often enough that my wife is going to give it a go beginning in the next week or two, but I have no direct experience with it yet.

Good luck!

Here is a little motivation: muscle eats fat....the more muscle u have, the more you use your muscles, the more fat it will eat. If you hate the gym like me, maybe you will like crossfit. There is always some kind of sport you can join to maintain health.....you might even find yourself enjoying it a little too much and play even more

I'm also wondering this. I have been wanting to lower my body fat percentage.

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eat at maintenance or 10% below, and start a good lifting routine 3x a week.

^^^ I'd start at maintenance. Ramp down if you see a scale spike that lasts more than a week. Or just throw away the scale and go for the clothes sizes and measurements and look that you want. Most people really have no idea what a good looking body weighs because we have been raised to think in terms of weight when it's the worst metric for measuring a healthy body.

Go with this

Don't be scared of bulking from lifting. You won't bulk like a man does. Lift.

Read this.

http://www.xplosivegrowth.com/2012/09/20/girls-get-your-guns-why-women-should-lift-weights/

bump

You don't HAVE to use protein shakes. But its actually a pretty cheap (and easy) way of getting protein in

eat at maintenance or 10% below, and start a good lifting routine 3x a week.

^^^ I'd start at maintenance. Ramp down if you see a scale spike that lasts more than a week. Or just throw away the scale and go for the clothes sizes and measurements and look that you want. Most people really have no idea what a good looking body weighs because we have been raised to think in terms of weight when it's the worst metric for measuring a healthy body.

indeed.

Using a scale is good for measuring trend lines- but not so good for what's actually going on with the body.

Take away- LIFT.
Monitor and maintain food.

Agreed. Eat at maintenance and lift. That said, it is a long slow process when you don't go through bulk and cut cycles and you will eventually hit a wall. You will be much happier with your body when that wall comes though.

I'm going to say this in all sincerity. If you don't see results while eating at maintenance, up your calories by 100 or so. Just a little. Work out hard. Keep a progressive load, which means small increases in your lifts (either weight or rep) every time you lift until you run out of steam.

You may gain a few pounds, but if you do it right, you could lose fat. How do I know? That's what I did. I dropped a pants size when I started lifting, and I gained 8 or 9 pounds. That's a really nice gain for a woman in her first year of heavy lifting. I'm back down 7 of those pounds, and I have kept a good bit of that lean mass I put on.

You can then cut if your bodyfat percent is still higher than you like. The more lean mass on your body when you start eating at a deficit again, the better.

ETA: EAT the protein. I aimed for at least 1 gram per pound of body weight. Most days I aimed for 1.3 grams per pound of bodyweight.

Bump!

wow! So much good info guys, thank you ! sometimes I find it hard to get loads of protein in , some people say a gram per lb of body weight, some say a gram per kg, someone here said gram per 0.8lbs of body weight?

I don't think you'll ever find a consensus on this topic, amongst forum members, amongst professional coaches, or anyone. I think that the amount of protein that the body really needs & utilizes is more closely corresponded to the amount of lean body mass than the overall body weight, but since many people don't know their LBM, there have been many attempts at a "rule of thumb" and plus it really depends on what an individual's goals are--which is why you see such a wide range of recommendations. Because there are so many different recommendations, that's why I like to see what real people (esp women) who have been successful have done.

Sounds like you are starting down the right path. Good luck to you!