Only if—and this is key—you actually eat a lot of vegetables. Vegetarianism is not a good weight management strategy if you are a pasta-tarian. Excessive carbohydrates, especially refined ones, lead to increased fat stores. Another reason it can be hard to lose weight on a vegetarian diet is the need for essential fatty acids and amino acids to burn fat. Get a daily serving of seeds and/or nuts and use healthy cold-pressed oils to make sure you get essential fatty acids. Amino acids come from complete proteins (which can be formed by combining whole grains with legumes).
I encourage people to experiment to find what sources and amounts of protein work best for you. If you are dedicated to being a vegetarian for ethical reasons, it is certainly possible to eat a healthy diet and manage your weight, but you have to really watch the carbohydrates and focus on protein needs (and possibly supplement B vitamins since B12 tends to be deficient in vegetarians). It is important to learn how to cook and digest beans well (soaking the beans will help, as can digestive enzymes like Beano).
Some vegans / vegetarians use soy as their primary source of protein. I would like to offer some cautions about soy, however. Soy is a very common allergen and it can be difficult to digest for many people. It is also a highly processed food, and when made into meat substitutes, is usually a packaged/preserved food—these can be loaded with sodium and preservatives. Soy is also a phyto-estrogenic food—which can be useful if one is in menopause or estrogen compromised, but problematic if one is estrogen dominant or male (since excess estrogens can cause infertility and libido problems for men). Also, soy is frequently treated with excessive pesticides, which can lead to further hormone disruption—so choose organic soy products if you eat them. And if you tend toward hypothyroidism, I’d advise staying away from soy altogether since soy also has goitrogens—an inhibitor for iodine absorption, which is essential for proper thyroid function.
If you don’t love eating beans, and you are lacto-ovo vegetarian (as opposed to vegan), other proteins worth considering are organic, pasture-raised, hormone-free and antibiotic-free eggs and high quality (raw milk if possible) yogurts, if one can digest dairy well (but beware artificial sweeteners—get plain, with as few ingredients as you can find and add your own fresh fruit if you like).
