The atomic masses of [itex]^A_Z X[/itex] and [itex]^A_{Z+1} Y[/itex] are things you can look up in a table of atomic masses. For example, let's take carbon twelve, [itex]^{12}_6 C[/itex]. You can look that up and you'll find that the atomic mass is exactly 6 grams per mole (and divide by Avogadro's number to find the mass of a single atom). But that number assumes that the [itex]^{12}_6 C[/itex] atoms under consideration all have full shells of electrons (in this case 6). If you want to measure the atomic mass of a [itex]^{12}_6 C ^+[/itex] ion, with only 5 electrons, you'll need to subtract off the mass of an electron from the value found in the table.
The change in mass, [itex]\Delta m[/itex] is the atomic mass of the parent atom minus the atomic mass of everything involved after the decay.
So what is left after the decay? The atomic mass of [itex]^A_{Z+1} Y[/itex] with the electron subtracted off, and the atomic mass of the beta particle.I'm not sure I understand. [itex]m_e[/itex] is the electron mass.
The byproducts of the beta decay consist of a positive ion and an electron. But the mass of [itex]^A_{Z+1} Y[/itex], which you can look up in a table, is not the mass of a positive ion. It's the mass of a neutral atom. So to find the mass of the positive ion, you must take the mass of [itex]^A_{Z+1} Y[/itex] and subtract off the mass of an electron.