You see it everywhere and at some point or another, you’ve probably listed ‘getting abs’ as a goal, even if you didn’t say it out loud.
You might have tried to get them yourself, you know, by doing endless crunches and mind-numbing cardio to help you get ripped like they are in the magazines.
Well, and I’m just guessing here, I bet it didn’t work.
After all the effort and time spent in the gym, I’m guessing your energy was wasted and in the end you didn’t get past the upper two abs.
Don’t feel bad, most people never reveal their abs, and no, it’s not what you think.
It’s not because of their age or something to do with their metabolism and it certainly isn’t because they aren’t doing enough crunches.
The reason why most people never see their abs is because they simply don’t know HOW to reveal them.
Let me explain.
The Secret Formula for Revealing Your Abs
No matter what you’ve been told, what you’ve read or what new workout you’ve seen in the gym, the way to finally reveal your abs, and it’s something even many fitness coaches get wrong, is to get your diet under control.
You’ve heard the saying, abs are made in the kitchen right? Well, that’s because everyone has abs, everyone, the trouble is, most people also have a layer of fat on top of them, meaning you can’t actually see them.
It doesn’t mean you’re grossly overweight, you could be what we call ‘skinny fat’ but if you can’t see your abs, it’s because you have fat on top of them and that’s why what you do in the kitchen will far outweigh what you do in the gym.
It could be anything from 5-10lbs, and you could look strong, fit and healthy everywhere else, but if you can’t see your abs, that’s the reason why.
Unfortunately exercising more won’t work and simply cutting out some types of junk food may not do the trick either, but the answer to revealing your abs is easier than you think and is something that can be achieved by anyone, no matter how old they are or how much weight they’re carrying.
Whether you think you’ve been doing everything right, or you have no clue but would love to finally see your abs, don’t worry; I’m going to tell you how to fix your diet so that you can finally reveal your abs.
Focus on Your Nutrition
Getting your nutrition under control doesn’t mean following a crash diet or cutting out valuable foods from your life, it simply means following a balanced diet that is made up of the right amounts of protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates (yes, you can still eat carbs and get abs).
It goes without saying that if you’re trying to focus on your nutrition then eating sugary snacks and drinking multiple beers a night isn’t going to help you to get the desired look you want, but it’s also not just as simple as eating more vegetables.
At the heart of all of it, you should know how to calculate your calories, breakdown your macros and understand how much protein you should be eating daily and once you can do that consistently, you can worry about everything else.
Protein – The Building Block of Muscles
Protein is one of the most important factors when trying to change your body shape and in your case, retain as much muscle mass as possible while losing fat to show your abs.
It helps with muscle growth and recovery and is known as the building block of muscle development. As a rule, aiming for 0.8 - 1g per lb of body weight is considered the optimal amount of protein when losing weight and it should come from lean protein sources.
You should base all of your meals around protein, ensuring you consume some at with each meal. Including chicken breast, eggs, steak, tuna and whey, casein or soy protein powders in your diet is the best way to meet your protein needs and show off your abs.
Carbohydrates and When to Eat Them
Carbohydrates are the body’s number one fuel source but they have become vilified in recent years. The problem isn’t that carbs are bad for you, the problem is that too many carbs (like too much of anything) are bad for you. When trying to reach the optimal level of leanness for showing your abs the amount of carbs and the type of carbs, needs to be spot on. A general rule is to eat most of your carbs post-workout and to try and stick to complex carbs such as sweet potatoes and brown rice. There is no set amount of carbs you need to eat when losing weight but many people operate in the 50g-150g range.
Eat Fat to Lose Fat
The rest of your nutrition is made up of healthy fats, a key part of any healthy, balanced diet.
Fatty fish, like salmon, mackerel or tuna are rich with omega-3 which are very important for heart health and brain function and are fantastic sources of fat.
Foods such as avocados, nuts, and olive oil are another healthy source of ‘good fats’ and are another great way of getting the right type of fuel into your body.
The key thing, however, is much like the carbohydrates, not to overdo it and stay within your calorie goal.
Bringing it All Together
So you know what foods you need to eat and that you have to eat a lot of protein, but now what? Does that mean you’re free to go and your abs will show up exactly when you want, like an Uber?
No. and here’s why.
Eating the right foods is a great first step and will definitely get you on the road to abs, as long as you stay consistent, but it’s about more than just eating clean , because the truth is, if you eat too many calories, you won’t lose weight and you won’t see your abs.
The Quick and Easy Way of Calculating Your Calories
To ensure you’re eating the right amount, to actually see your abs, you need to work out your calorie needs.
You may have tried before but too many calculators complicate the process, leaving you more confused than when you started.
So here’s an easy method:
- 1Get your weight in pounds
- 2To lose fat (which is what you’re trying to do) multiply your weight in pounds by 10-12 a) 10 if you’re not very active and workout less than twice a week
b) 11 if you’re moderately active and workout 2 or 3 times a week
c) 12 if you’re very active and a regular gym-goer, exercising 4 or more times a week - 3Aim for 0.8-1 g per pound of bodyweight
- 4Use the remaining calories for your carbs and fats
Is There Anything Else That Can Help?
Whether or not you see your abs is going to come down to your nutrition and how diligent you are, but there are a few other things you can do, which will help.
Exercising is one of them, but before you break out the yoga mat and start doing crunches wait a minute, because that’s not what I’m saying.
Lifting weights is a fantastic way of building your core and strengthening your abs so that once the fat covering them has dropped, you will reveal a stronger core.
However cardio, and more specifically HIIT cardio sessions are a great way of burning more calories at a faster rate helping you to drop the pounds faster.
It is, however, important to remember here that none of this will work if you’re eating too much food. Remember, you need to continue losing weight to be able to show your abs and simply exercising more isn’t the way to do that.
For a full breakdown of the best abs exercise to do, Click Here !
Ready to Get Abs? Abs-olutely!
But only if you do what you’ve been told. The trouble is, most people don’t.
They don’t believe eating correctly is going to work and instead, they spend countless hours doing sit-ups and crunches only to get nowhere.
Don’t make that mistake.
If you want to finally reveal your abs and show the world what you’ve been hiding all these years, you need to follow the plan above.
Calculate your calories using the formula showed. Eat 0.8-1g of protein per pound of body weight and make sure all the rest of your calories come from the right types of carbs and fats.
Doing this, consistently, will get you there and as you continue to do this, day in day out, your abs will start to show, leaving you leaner, fitter and more defined in no time.
