Sorry to break the bad news, but there is no way you can spot reduce. It doesn't happen. You can't target an area on your body you specifically want to lose weight in, but you can do as the others suggested and tone your area.
When you do tone up the muscle in that area with the exercises mentioned, realize that if you're not doing enough cardio, you may end up looking thicker, since your muscle will be growing, but you're not addressing the issue of fat loss (which was your real concern to begin with).
Far from being at 9% bodyfat, you can develop your muscles to show at 15% or so. I've never been at 16% (I'm higher than that), but I've had that 6 pack with the abs and a small waist.
With a good cardio program (working up to the point where you're doing 4- 5 days per week of 45 min- 1 hour cardiovascular activity that raises the heart rate sufficiently so that you're feeling relatively challenged), you have to realize your "problem areas" are problems because it's the last place you'll lose and the first place you'll gain. It's unfortunate, but each person has their own body type, and when you lose weight, you'll just get the same body, but smaller. So in order for you to lose the fat around the middle, you'll have to realize it will take a lot of cardio. In the process, you'll lose weight from all parts of your body, you will become a bit smaller overall, but you'll at least lose fat around the middle.
Since your middle is your problem area, realize that you'll have to make sure you don't gain the weight back- so continue doing cardio and weight training, and watch your nutrition! You can be a vegetarian, but if you are eating a lot of the junk food stuff (potato chips, ice cream, etc.), then it won't make a difference if you are vegetarian or not.
Good luck!
d ross