Flat stomach without abs

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  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Okay I'm getting it so far, but how do I lower my body percentage? What's best to eat and what isn't? I'm off this morning to do my workout! How do I make this more fun without it feeling like a mission when I do it?

    To lower bf% strength training is required to preserve muscle mass while you eat at a deficit. While strength training most of your weight loss will be fat so the ratio of lean body mass to fat increases, thereby lowering body fat percentage.

    ETA in terms of food, get plenty of protein, aiming for around 1g per lb LBM per day. To make workouts more fun, find something that you love doing, then it is not such a chore.
  • AmyJade_mfp
    AmyJade_mfp Posts: 55 Member
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    I agree, you won't get abs by accident! You can have a look at my photos, my stomach is nearly flat, I have a small lower belly pooch from being seven months pregnant and losing my son but gets getting flatter for sure.

    Situps are worthless at this point, so stop.

    Take up something more strenuous than power walking. I'm doing the Zombie 5k training app, but you could do any couch to 5k app to help you get started running, it'll shed away fat.

    Look into zumba or a spin class, you want CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO right now to lose the body fat. But that doesn't mean walking on a tredmil (or track) at the same pace for hours and hours, you gotta do interval training.

    Look into the 30 day shred for quick fatloss

    Whats your diet like right now?

    Wow! I jut helped out your progress a d you are doing amazingly well! You look amazing!
    My diet can sometimes change, atm I'm eating more fruit and less chocolate (dark) simply because I don't feel like it, I'm trying to drink a lot more because I don't drink enough so I probably have a lot of water weight, but I find standard water is yukky!
    I have cereal for breakfast, a sandwich and crisps for lunch (as of today no more crisps) and I have a meal my mom makes me which I have no say in, but it's usually fish and veg, meat and veg something a log those lines.
  • kindasortachewy
    kindasortachewy Posts: 1,084 Member
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    Watching my carbs, NOT cutting them out but watching them has helped me lose the tummy/bloat - carbs hold onto water in your stomach (I've heard lol I'm not a doctor)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Don't do any situps or similar. You're not aiming to build bulk, but just strip fat. Do hard cardio - sprints and intervals, not steady-state like long runs. You can do long runs too, but the more you do steady-state, the less it does for you since your body gets more efficient at it. You need to strip fat, not follow a gazelle for 40 miles.

    Do stability exercises - planks and all variants thereof. Build some strength for firmness without working on much building.

    And keep eating at a deficit to lose fat.
    The only thing that gets you a small waist is a low enough body fat to not hold any there - which is different amounts depending on where your body wants to hold its fat.

    Full-body free weight exercises are good for building the shapely muscles that don't look like muscles, and also for raising your metabolism to burn more fat. Put them in with the hard cardio.
    But basically, just lose enough fat until your stomach shows up.

    QFT
  • HelloDan
    HelloDan Posts: 712 Member
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    Genetics will play a role in this. You'll just have to try to play around with it. There's no real definitive answer.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    This plus the lower body fat percentage answer is where it will be at.

    Although, depending on your genetics, your abdominal region may be one of the first or one of the last places to lose fat. If it's one of the last, things will probably work out how you want, if it's one of the first, you might have the abs you want, but still have too much fat for your liking in other areas, such as hips, thighs, arms etc...

    That's not to say don't go for it, but sometimes you have to work with what your parents have given you, even if it's not exactly what you want.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
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    Don't think you need to avoid weight lifting to get the stomach you want. (I wouldn't do a lot of situps, but because they're not a very effective exercise, not because you'll build muscle.)

    Here's a great example of how the flat stomach look vs. visible abs is just a matter of having a little more body fat.

    Fitness model Tianna Ta in a competition.
    interview-tianna-ta_asm.jpg

    With higher body fat during the "off" season.
    tianna_ta.jpg

    My suggestion: Eat at as SMALL calorie deficit (10% below TDEE, or with MFP set to lose a half pound a week), get plenty of protein (around 100g a day would probably be good), strength train with some cardio if you enjoy it, and track your progress through photos instead of the scale.

    Stop when you're happy with where you are. It's kind of like wanting to go to the beach, but not go swimming. Stop before you get in the ocean. :tongue:
  • AmyJade_mfp
    AmyJade_mfp Posts: 55 Member
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    'My suggestion: Eat at as SMALL calorie deficit'

    HOW? I have got everything else! My workout this morning was so tiring! It felt GOOD!
  • missADS1981
    missADS1981 Posts: 364 Member
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    the abs are a muscle, if you don't train them with intense exercises they will be less visible, however that is also dependent on the amount of body fat you have. right now it sounds to me like HIIT cardio, cardio classes, etc will get you to a lower bf % which in turn will lead to flatter stomach (if that is where your body stores fat). Flat stomachs also dont come just from reducing body fat, you have to watch what you are eating and your digestive health. Drinking tons of water, a pro and pre biotic, clean healthy foods with good amounts of fiber, etc. I know many women who are "thin" who still dont have flat stomach because of bad diet/digestion issues. just some food for thought.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
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    'My suggestion: Eat at as SMALL calorie deficit'

    HOW? I have got everything else! My workout this morning was so tiring! It felt GOOD!

    How? Eat enough. Calculate your TDEE. If it's, for example, 2200 calories, eat about 1900-2000 calories a day. Don't eat some crazy low amount like 1200 calories, because that's too large of a deficit.
  • princesspea234
    princesspea234 Posts: 182 Member
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    'My suggestion: Eat at as SMALL calorie deficit'

    HOW? I have got everything else! My workout this morning was so tiring! It felt GOOD!

    Use MFP's guidelines to set a "weight" goal and set it to lose weight at 1 lb a week...then always eat back exercise calories.
  • kellijauch
    kellijauch Posts: 379 Member
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    run your butt off - literally. cardio is the way to be "skinny fat" (meaning skinny, but with no definition)
  • james6998
    james6998 Posts: 743 Member
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    Basically, I want a flat stomach without visible abs,

    Did you mean you want a flat stomach WITH visible abs?


    I would LOVE to have a flat stomach with NO visible abs!! Going to bump this.

    Not possible, once you remove the cover the abs will naturally show. You might not have as visible as someone who works on their abs but still going to show though.

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