Abs made in the kitchen?

antennachick

So I am curious about the saying "abs are made in the kitchen" my questions are;
What does that mean?
Some argue its all about eatting clean?
Others say you need to just eat a deficit so if you have a cookie for breakfast, as long as it fits into your calories you are fine.
Finally in order to get viable abs you need a low Body fat percentage.


Thoughts?

Pearsquared

I think it's meant to be broader and encompass just plain paying attention to your diet. Similar to "You can't out-exercise a bad diet".

danacondah

My thoughts are...

Eating at a deficit will lead to weight loss. We all have "abs"... however in order to SEE said abs, from my own personal and non professional opinion... it's 99% diet, and in order for MY abs to show, for me that means lower carb and higher protein.

And then there's those damn people and their God-Like genetics...

ASKyle

My thoughts are:

It's the best response to all the people asking "what exercises will make my stomach smaller" or "I do so many crunches and it's not working". It helps get the point across that, no matter how much you work the muscles, they're not gonna show with a layer of fat over them!

cwolfman13

antennachick wrote: »

So I am curious about the saying "abs are made in the kitchen" my questions are;
What does that mean?
Some argue its all about eatting clean?
Others say you need to just eat a deficit so if you have a cookie for breakfast, as long as it fits into your calories you are fine.
Finally in order to get viable abs you need a low Body fat percentage.


Thoughts?

It means that visible abs are a result of being very lean which is attributable in large part to diet.

Right now I'm about 12% and trying to drop to 10%...my exercise isn't any different than it has been...to drop those 2% points, I'm consuming less energy than I expend...i.e. I'm dieting.

Yes, you have to have the muscles...but that's really irrelevant if they're covered in fat.

I would also add that...and keep in mind that I'm 41...but the leaner I want to be, the more rigorous I seem to have to be in my nutrition. It's not like when I was 23 and could eat pizza every night with the boys at the house and maintain 8% BF...it just isn't happening like that at 41.

esn222

cwolfman13 wrote: »

antennachick wrote: »

I would also add that...and keep in mind that I'm 41...but the leaner I want to be, the more rigorous I seem to have to be in my nutrition. It's not like when I was 23 and could eat pizza every night with the boys at the house and maintain 8% BF...it just isn't happening like that at 41.

I miss that metabolism

Yi5hedr3

Yes - Diet is 85% of it. Exercise is little bang for the buck in comparison. And yes, you won't see them until you get below 12% BF.