What will it take for me to get six pack abs
mcraburn123
Posts: 65 Member
I am a very healthy weight. I feel like i dont have room to lose much more weight but i eat very clean and started exercising regularly again. I do 30 minutes of cardio at the beginning of each workout and i am on an upper/lower split with a day of rest between and then the weekend off. I would like input from anybody with experience in building ab muscles. Ive always wanted them but thats the one thing i cant get no matter how clean i eat. Any advice would be much appreciated.
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Replies
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Ab muscles have nothing to do with eating clean, whatever that means to you. To have visible abs, you have to have sufficient ab muscle development and low enough body fat for them to show. Judging by your profile pic, you might have the muscle development but right now, you are not down to a low enough body fat for them to show. Eating clean isn't going to make that happen. A slight calories deficit, weight training and patience.18
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Ab muscles have nothing to do with eating clean, whatever that means to you. To have visible abs, you have to have sufficient ab muscle development and low enough body fat for them to show. Judging by your profile pic, you might have the muscle development but right now, you are not down to a low enough body fat for them to show. Eating clean isn't going to make that happen. A slight calories deficit, weight training and patience.
Yeah u sound like you know what u r talking about and that definitely makes sense. But im worried that to lose body fat id have to lose more weight and im 130 now. How should i go about losing body fat without getting too skinny? I also dont actually know my bf %1 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Ab muscles have nothing to do with eating clean, whatever that means to you. To have visible abs, you have to have sufficient ab muscle development and low enough body fat for them to show. Judging by your profile pic, you might have the muscle development but right now, you are not down to a low enough body fat for them to show. Eating clean isn't going to make that happen. A slight calories deficit, weight training and patience.
Yeah u sound like you know what u r talking about and that definitely makes sense. But im worried that to lose body fat id have to lose more weight and im 130 now. How should i go about losing body fat without getting too skinny? I also dont actually know my bf %
It's very slow but re-composition is how. You eat at maintenance and lift weights. It takes time. If you are 130, how tall are you?0 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Ab muscles have nothing to do with eating clean, whatever that means to you. To have visible abs, you have to have sufficient ab muscle development and low enough body fat for them to show. Judging by your profile pic, you might have the muscle development but right now, you are not down to a low enough body fat for them to show. Eating clean isn't going to make that happen. A slight calories deficit, weight training and patience.
Yeah u sound like you know what u r talking about and that definitely makes sense. But im worried that to lose body fat id have to lose more weight and im 130 now. How should i go about losing body fat without getting too skinny? I also dont actually know my bf %
It's very slow but re-composition is how. You eat at maintenance and lift weights. It takes time. If you are 130, how tall are you?
Im 5'6 or 5'7 and ive tried fasting but lately its been making me sick. Ill get light headed abd almost pass out and occasionally ill even throw up for some reason0 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."5 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Yea thats true because even when i wasnt working out and eating very clean i was seeing progress in body composition1 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.23 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.
So eating at deficit is how you build muscle and burn fat? Interesting... I can see why all these starving people in poor countries are just walking around with rippling six packs...
Your abs are just like any other muscle and must be trained to grow. However, abs are made in the kitchen still means exactly what it's always meant. You can gain muscle on a caloric deficit just like you can burn fat on a caloric deficit. Dropping weight is very different from burning fat.
There's a reason the OP is skinny fat, he dropped ALL OF HIS MUSCLE along his way to dropping weight.
Muscle is supported by protein, right...? So he just needs to keep dropping weight and eating at a deficit to self correct this problem? Then weighing in at 110 lbs he will have the abs of his dreams?
I don't understand how that saying doesn't mean exactly what I think it means. I never said his training wasn't a very important factor but nutrition is just as important.3 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »mcraburn123 wrote: »Ab muscles have nothing to do with eating clean, whatever that means to you. To have visible abs, you have to have sufficient ab muscle development and low enough body fat for them to show. Judging by your profile pic, you might have the muscle development but right now, you are not down to a low enough body fat for them to show. Eating clean isn't going to make that happen. A slight calories deficit, weight training and patience.
Yeah u sound like you know what u r talking about and that definitely makes sense. But im worried that to lose body fat id have to lose more weight and im 130 now. How should i go about losing body fat without getting too skinny? I also dont actually know my bf %
It's very slow but re-composition is how. You eat at maintenance and lift weights. It takes time. If you are 130, how tall are you?
Im 5'6 or 5'7 and ive tried fasting but lately its been making me sick. Ill get light headed abd almost pass out and occasionally ill even throw up for some reason
You are in the lower end of BMI. There is no reason for you to fast. Your goal should be to add muscle. You can do that 2 ways. A lean bulk, which would mean eating at a slight calories surplus and focusing on your training.
Or a recomp. Eat at maintenance and focus on your training.
The bulk is counter intuitive because you will gain a slight amount of fat tha you will later cut. But without the muscle development you won't get to your states goal without being underweight .3 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Please provide the universally accepted definition of "eating clean". And examples of people who have been studied who eat nothing but 2000 calories of sugar and why. (Hint: you won't find it because no one does that. It's a lame strawman argument)18 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Yea that's true because even when i wasnt working out and eating very clean i was seeing progress in body composition
Do your research. Look at the results. You can find plenty of people who went from what you look like in your profile picture to adding 20 lbs of muscle and getting completely ripped as well.
How were they able to gain weight, add lbs of muscle, and still drop fat? It wasn't by just eating McDonald's at a caloric deficit. These people eat "clean". Don't be fooled by the monolithic opinion here shown by everyone who hides behind the disagree button.
I think there's more books written on this topic than probably anything else out there. Content of your diet is very important, regardless of all the "disagree(s)" you see here.
Food is not created equally. Meaning different foods are processed and used differently in the body.3 -
All you're finding here is people changing the context of the conversation cherry picking and grabbing at the low-hanging fruit to take away from the point that's being made.2
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Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.
So eating at deficit is how you build muscle and burn fat? Interesting... I can see why all these starving people in poor countries are just walking around with rippling six packs...
Your abs are just like any other muscle and must be trained to grow. However, abs are made in the kitchen still means exactly what it's always meant. You can gain muscle on a caloric deficit just like you can burn fat on a caloric deficit. Dropping weight is very different from burning fat.
There's a reason the OP is skinny fat, he dropped ALL OF HIS MUSCLE along his way to dropping weight.
Muscle is supported by protein, right...? So he just needs to keep dropping weight and eating at a deficit to self correct this problem? Then weighing in at 110 lbs he will have the abs of his dreams?
I don't understand how that saying doesn't mean exactly what I think it means. I never said his training wasn't a very important factor but nutrition is just as important.
To get a a "six pack", one needs to do 2 things:
1. Have sufficient abdominal muscle.
2. Be at a very low body fat percentage.
Number 1 is fairly easy. Number 2 is very hard. Sure, the people you think of as "starving people in poor countries" don't have 6 pack abs because they don't have number 1 (although side note: as someone who lives in a "third world country", your perception of what people are like in poor countries does not reflect relatity. End side note). But someone who is in fairly decent physical shape will have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs.
I have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs. They are just hidden beneath all the fat. OP is obviously skinny and low body fat, and has some abdominal defintion (based on his pic), but to get abs traditionally defined as six pack, you are looking at a sub 10% body fat percentage usually. It doesn't look like OP is quite there yet.
So to get there, he needs to drop a bit more fat. He may feel like he doesn't have much fat to drop, which is in one sense true, but to get a six pack you need to have very little fat. No one is suggesting he "goes to 110". But he's at the middle of a healthy BMI for his height. You don't just automatically get a six pack in that range. He's gonna need to drop a few more pounds of fat.
If he doesn't want to go to a lower weight, he can bulk up first, and then when he has more muscle on his frame, he can cut fat. Or he can focus on doing a recomp, which if he targets with eating right around maintenance and lifting properly, he might get that bit of fat loss he needs. Or he could do a very slow cut, which is probably the quickest route to them.
Whatever route he would want to go, "eating clean" doesn't have anything to go with it. First of all, "clean" is a term that doesn't have any real definition. It varies depending on whatever a person using it wants it to mean. Generally, people tend to mean it to be "eating whole foods". And while whole foods are usually an important part of a diet, you don't get any bonus points for only eating them, and they are not a guarentee of success. You can eat "clean" and eat a diet with unbalanced macros and insufficient protein. You can eat at a surplus. You can eat at too big a deficit. What is most important is not the "cleanliness" of the food, but that it is an appropriate deficit for the goal.
Back to the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen". This phrase is 100% about calorie deficit. It's used to answer the people who ask "what exercises can I do for my abs", when they still carry too much body fat to have them visible. It's for people in my situation, who do plenty of ab exercises, but are never going to see them unless I lose significantly more weight through a calorie deficit. That is where it comes in. There's nothing about it, or getting abs, that relates to a way of eating being "clean".22 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Yea that's true because even when i wasnt working out and eating very clean i was seeing progress in body composition
Do your research. Look at the results. You can find plenty of people who went from what you look like in your profile picture to adding 20 lbs of muscle and getting completely ripped as well.
How were they able to gain weight, add lbs of muscle, and still drop fat? It wasn't by just eating McDonald's at a caloric deficit. These people eat "clean". Don't be fooled by the monolithic opinion here shown by everyone who hides behind the disagree button.
I think there's more books written on this topic than probably anything else out there. Content of your diet is very important, regardless of all the "disagree(s)" you see here.
Food is not created equally. Meaning different foods are processed and used differently in the body.
You gain 20 pounds of muscle by bulking. That's eating more calories than your body takes in. Those people usually bulk and then cut afterwards, where they get rid of their excess fat. That is one route the OP could take. But he is going to have to focus on surpluses and deficits, not food "cleanliness".9 -
All you're finding here is people changing the context of the conversation cherry picking and grabbing at the low-hanging fruit to take away from the point that's being made.
I would argue that that is what you are doing in the conversation, by saying that we are saying that someone should eat nothing but sugar or McDonalds. Those are strawman arguements that we aren't making. What we are saying is that someone absolutely could eat McDonalds and sugar in moderation as part of a well balanced diet and still make the progress that he is seeking. That doesn't mean that those same people won't eat a good amount of whole foods. Most of us find that sucessfully maintaining our calorie goals is easier if we eat a balance of foods that includes plenty of whole foods and nutritious foods. But we also don't put artificial uncessary restrictions on ourselves by saying we need to only eat "clean", or believe that there is any food off limits. Again, just because a food isn't off limits doesn't mean that we believe that our diets should only or primarily consist of them.
13 -
i would say ditch the cardio...you dont need to lose any more weight... you need to lose "fat" which is totally different.. and continue eating clean.. abs are made in the kitchen... but to lose fat you need to increase muscle , and you need to increase protein3
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mcraburn123 wrote: »I am a very healthy weight. I feel like i dont have room to lose much more weight but i eat very clean and started exercising regularly again. I do 30 minutes of cardio at the beginning of each workout and i am on an upper/lower split with a day of rest between and then the weekend off. I would like input from anybody with experience in building ab muscles. Ive always wanted them but thats the one thing i cant get no matter how clean i eat. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Do you do any abdominal exercises?1 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.
So eating at deficit is how you build muscle and burn fat? Interesting... I can see why all these starving people in poor countries are just walking around with rippling six packs...
Your abs are just like any other muscle and must be trained to grow. However, abs are made in the kitchen still means exactly what it's always meant. You can gain muscle on a caloric deficit just like you can burn fat on a caloric deficit. Dropping weight is very different from burning fat.
There's a reason the OP is skinny fat, he dropped ALL OF HIS MUSCLE along his way to dropping weight.
Muscle is supported by protein, right...? So he just needs to keep dropping weight and eating at a deficit to self correct this problem? Then weighing in at 110 lbs he will have the abs of his dreams?
I don't understand how that saying doesn't mean exactly what I think it means. I never said his training wasn't a very important factor but nutrition is just as important.
To get a a "six pack", one needs to do 2 things:
1. Have sufficient abdominal muscle.
2. Be at a very low body fat percentage.
Number 1 is fairly easy. Number 2 is very hard. Sure, the people you think of as "starving people in poor countries" don't have 6 pack abs because they don't have number 1 (although side note: as someone who lives in a "third world country", your perception of what people are like in poor countries does not reflect relatity. End side note). But someone who is in fairly decent physical shape will have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs.
I have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs. They are just hidden beneath all the fat. OP is obviously skinny and low body fat, and has some abdominal defintion (based on his pic), but to get abs traditionally defined as six pack, you are looking at a sub 10% body fat percentage usually. It doesn't look like OP is quite there yet.
So to get there, he needs to drop a bit more fat. He may feel like he doesn't have much fat to drop, which is in one sense true, but to get a six pack you need to have very little fat. No one is suggesting he "goes to 110". But he's at the middle of a healthy BMI for his height. You don't just automatically get a six pack in that range. He's gonna need to drop a few more pounds of fat.
If he doesn't want to go to a lower weight, he can bulk up first, and then when he has more muscle on his frame, he can cut fat. Or he can focus on doing a recomp, which if he targets with eating right around maintenance and lifting properly, he might get that bit of fat loss he needs. Or he could do a very slow cut, which is probably the quickest route to them.
Whatever route he would want to go, "eating clean" doesn't have anything to go with it. First of all, "clean" is a term that doesn't have any real definition. It varies depending on whatever a person using it wants it to mean. Generally, people tend to mean it to be "eating whole foods". And while whole foods are usually an important part of a diet, you don't get any bonus points for only eating them, and they are not a guarentee of success. You can eat "clean" and eat a diet with unbalanced macros and insufficient protein. You can eat at a surplus. You can eat at too big a deficit. What is most important is not the "cleanliness" of the food, but that it is an appropriate deficit for the goal.
Back to the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen". This phrase is 100% about calorie deficit. It's used to answer the people who ask "what exercises can I do for my abs", when they still carry too much body fat to have them visible. It's for people in my situation, who do plenty of ab exercises, but are never going to see them unless I lose significantly more weight through a calorie deficit. That is where it comes in. There's nothing about it, or getting abs, that relates to a way of eating being "clean".
I think what you said about a slow cut is the smartest most sound choice and its gonna be alot easier in the long run. If i keep working out and doing cardio along with a healthy diet im hoping within six months ill see the results im wanting. Do you think thats the best thing for me to do right now?1 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Yea that's true because even when i wasnt working out and eating very clean i was seeing progress in body composition
Do your research. Look at the results. You can find plenty of people who went from what you look like in your profile picture to adding 20 lbs of muscle and getting completely ripped as well.
How were they able to gain weight, add lbs of muscle, and still drop fat? It wasn't by just eating McDonald's at a caloric deficit. These people eat "clean". Don't be fooled by the monolithic opinion here shown by everyone who hides behind the disagree button.
I think there's more books written on this topic than probably anything else out there. Content of your diet is very important, regardless of all the "disagree(s)" you see here.
Food is not created equally. Meaning different foods are processed and used differently in the body.
You gain 20 pounds of muscle by bulking. That's eating more calories than your body takes in. Those people usually bulk and then cut afterwards, where they get rid of their excess fat. That is one route the OP could take. But he is going to have to focus on surpluses and deficits, not food "cleanliness".
With a *kitten* load of resistance training thrown in.3 -
Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Is the only alternative to "eating clean" eating 2,000 calories of sugar?
Nobody is telling OP not to eat a balanced diet. They're pointing out that "clean" is a meaningless construct that has nothing to do with having a six pack.13 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.
So eating at deficit is how you build muscle and burn fat? Interesting... I can see why all these starving people in poor countries are just walking around with rippling six packs...
Your abs are just like any other muscle and must be trained to grow. However, abs are made in the kitchen still means exactly what it's always meant. You can gain muscle on a caloric deficit just like you can burn fat on a caloric deficit. Dropping weight is very different from burning fat.
There's a reason the OP is skinny fat, he dropped ALL OF HIS MUSCLE along his way to dropping weight.
Muscle is supported by protein, right...? So he just needs to keep dropping weight and eating at a deficit to self correct this problem? Then weighing in at 110 lbs he will have the abs of his dreams?
I don't understand how that saying doesn't mean exactly what I think it means. I never said his training wasn't a very important factor but nutrition is just as important.
To get a a "six pack", one needs to do 2 things:
1. Have sufficient abdominal muscle.
2. Be at a very low body fat percentage.
Number 1 is fairly easy. Number 2 is very hard. Sure, the people you think of as "starving people in poor countries" don't have 6 pack abs because they don't have number 1 (although side note: as someone who lives in a "third world country", your perception of what people are like in poor countries does not reflect relatity. End side note). But someone who is in fairly decent physical shape will have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs.
I have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs. They are just hidden beneath all the fat. OP is obviously skinny and low body fat, and has some abdominal defintion (based on his pic), but to get abs traditionally defined as six pack, you are looking at a sub 10% body fat percentage usually. It doesn't look like OP is quite there yet.
So to get there, he needs to drop a bit more fat. He may feel like he doesn't have much fat to drop, which is in one sense true, but to get a six pack you need to have very little fat. No one is suggesting he "goes to 110". But he's at the middle of a healthy BMI for his height. You don't just automatically get a six pack in that range. He's gonna need to drop a few more pounds of fat.
If he doesn't want to go to a lower weight, he can bulk up first, and then when he has more muscle on his frame, he can cut fat. Or he can focus on doing a recomp, which if he targets with eating right around maintenance and lifting properly, he might get that bit of fat loss he needs. Or he could do a very slow cut, which is probably the quickest route to them.
Whatever route he would want to go, "eating clean" doesn't have anything to go with it. First of all, "clean" is a term that doesn't have any real definition. It varies depending on whatever a person using it wants it to mean. Generally, people tend to mean it to be "eating whole foods". And while whole foods are usually an important part of a diet, you don't get any bonus points for only eating them, and they are not a guarentee of success. You can eat "clean" and eat a diet with unbalanced macros and insufficient protein. You can eat at a surplus. You can eat at too big a deficit. What is most important is not the "cleanliness" of the food, but that it is an appropriate deficit for the goal.
Back to the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen". This phrase is 100% about calorie deficit. It's used to answer the people who ask "what exercises can I do for my abs", when they still carry too much body fat to have them visible. It's for people in my situation, who do plenty of ab exercises, but are never going to see them unless I lose significantly more weight through a calorie deficit. That is where it comes in. There's nothing about it, or getting abs, that relates to a way of eating being "clean".
I think what you said about a slow cut is the smartest most sound choice and its gonna be alot easier in the long run. If i keep working out and doing cardio along with a healthy diet im hoping within six months ill see the results im wanting. Do you think thats the best thing for me to do right now?
You don't really need to cut at all at your weight. What you need is a recomp or a lean bulk.
Recomp is losing fat and building muscle while eating at maintenance. While it may seem counterintuitive, taking some time to build more overall muscle, including ab muscles, may help you most in the long run. Then cut down fat and reveal the muscles. Diet wise, get adequate protein to support your training. I don't know your training history but as a young male, you have great potential for muscle gain.
As I said in an earlier post, you are at a fairly low BMI. That should rule out cutting. You don't want to be unhealthily underweight but have abs, do you?6 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.
So eating at deficit is how you build muscle and burn fat? Interesting... I can see why all these starving people in poor countries are just walking around with rippling six packs...
Your abs are just like any other muscle and must be trained to grow. However, abs are made in the kitchen still means exactly what it's always meant. You can gain muscle on a caloric deficit just like you can burn fat on a caloric deficit. Dropping weight is very different from burning fat.
There's a reason the OP is skinny fat, he dropped ALL OF HIS MUSCLE along his way to dropping weight.
Muscle is supported by protein, right...? So he just needs to keep dropping weight and eating at a deficit to self correct this problem? Then weighing in at 110 lbs he will have the abs of his dreams?
I don't understand how that saying doesn't mean exactly what I think it means. I never said his training wasn't a very important factor but nutrition is just as important.
To get a a "six pack", one needs to do 2 things:
1. Have sufficient abdominal muscle.
2. Be at a very low body fat percentage.
Number 1 is fairly easy. Number 2 is very hard. Sure, the people you think of as "starving people in poor countries" don't have 6 pack abs because they don't have number 1 (although side note: as someone who lives in a "third world country", your perception of what people are like in poor countries does not reflect relatity. End side note). But someone who is in fairly decent physical shape will have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs.
I have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs. They are just hidden beneath all the fat. OP is obviously skinny and low body fat, and has some abdominal defintion (based on his pic), but to get abs traditionally defined as six pack, you are looking at a sub 10% body fat percentage usually. It doesn't look like OP is quite there yet.
So to get there, he needs to drop a bit more fat. He may feel like he doesn't have much fat to drop, which is in one sense true, but to get a six pack you need to have very little fat. No one is suggesting he "goes to 110". But he's at the middle of a healthy BMI for his height. You don't just automatically get a six pack in that range. He's gonna need to drop a few more pounds of fat.
If he doesn't want to go to a lower weight, he can bulk up first, and then when he has more muscle on his frame, he can cut fat. Or he can focus on doing a recomp, which if he targets with eating right around maintenance and lifting properly, he might get that bit of fat loss he needs. Or he could do a very slow cut, which is probably the quickest route to them.
Whatever route he would want to go, "eating clean" doesn't have anything to go with it. First of all, "clean" is a term that doesn't have any real definition. It varies depending on whatever a person using it wants it to mean. Generally, people tend to mean it to be "eating whole foods". And while whole foods are usually an important part of a diet, you don't get any bonus points for only eating them, and they are not a guarentee of success. You can eat "clean" and eat a diet with unbalanced macros and insufficient protein. You can eat at a surplus. You can eat at too big a deficit. What is most important is not the "cleanliness" of the food, but that it is an appropriate deficit for the goal.
Back to the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen". This phrase is 100% about calorie deficit. It's used to answer the people who ask "what exercises can I do for my abs", when they still carry too much body fat to have them visible. It's for people in my situation, who do plenty of ab exercises, but are never going to see them unless I lose significantly more weight through a calorie deficit. That is where it comes in. There's nothing about it, or getting abs, that relates to a way of eating being "clean".
I think what you said about a slow cut is the smartest most sound choice and its gonna be alot easier in the long run. If i keep working out and doing cardio along with a healthy diet im hoping within six months ill see the results im wanting. Do you think thats the best thing for me to do right now?
You don't really need to cut at all at your weight. What you need is a recomp or a lean bulk.
Recomp is losing fat and building muscle while eating at maintenance. While it may seem counterintuitive, taking some time to build more overall muscle, including ab muscles, may help you most in the long run. Then cut down fat and reveal the muscles. Diet wise, get adequate protein to support your training. I don't know your training history but as a young male, you have great potential for muscle gain.
As I said in an earlier post, you are at a fairly low BMI. That should rule out cutting. You don't want to be unhealthily underweight but have abs, do you?
OP looks very young in his profile pic. He may very well want those abs more than anything. My 18 yo son and his friends are fixated on abs - blinds them to how odd some of their physiques look. It’s the equivalent of a thigh gap for some young men.
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mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Abs are made in the kitchen doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. It means that you can't simply work out to get abs, you need to eat at a deficit to have a low body fat.
Nobody is talking about eating 2000 calories of sugar. Adequate protein is important for muscle development, and good nutrition has health benefits, but there is nothing inherently beneficial about any food being "clean", which is not even a real definable term.
So eating at deficit is how you build muscle and burn fat? Interesting... I can see why all these starving people in poor countries are just walking around with rippling six packs...
Your abs are just like any other muscle and must be trained to grow. However, abs are made in the kitchen still means exactly what it's always meant. You can gain muscle on a caloric deficit just like you can burn fat on a caloric deficit. Dropping weight is very different from burning fat.
There's a reason the OP is skinny fat, he dropped ALL OF HIS MUSCLE along his way to dropping weight.
Muscle is supported by protein, right...? So he just needs to keep dropping weight and eating at a deficit to self correct this problem? Then weighing in at 110 lbs he will have the abs of his dreams?
I don't understand how that saying doesn't mean exactly what I think it means. I never said his training wasn't a very important factor but nutrition is just as important.
To get a a "six pack", one needs to do 2 things:
1. Have sufficient abdominal muscle.
2. Be at a very low body fat percentage.
Number 1 is fairly easy. Number 2 is very hard. Sure, the people you think of as "starving people in poor countries" don't have 6 pack abs because they don't have number 1 (although side note: as someone who lives in a "third world country", your perception of what people are like in poor countries does not reflect relatity. End side note). But someone who is in fairly decent physical shape will have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs.
I have the abdominal muscles for six pack abs. They are just hidden beneath all the fat. OP is obviously skinny and low body fat, and has some abdominal defintion (based on his pic), but to get abs traditionally defined as six pack, you are looking at a sub 10% body fat percentage usually. It doesn't look like OP is quite there yet.
So to get there, he needs to drop a bit more fat. He may feel like he doesn't have much fat to drop, which is in one sense true, but to get a six pack you need to have very little fat. No one is suggesting he "goes to 110". But he's at the middle of a healthy BMI for his height. You don't just automatically get a six pack in that range. He's gonna need to drop a few more pounds of fat.
If he doesn't want to go to a lower weight, he can bulk up first, and then when he has more muscle on his frame, he can cut fat. Or he can focus on doing a recomp, which if he targets with eating right around maintenance and lifting properly, he might get that bit of fat loss he needs. Or he could do a very slow cut, which is probably the quickest route to them.
Whatever route he would want to go, "eating clean" doesn't have anything to go with it. First of all, "clean" is a term that doesn't have any real definition. It varies depending on whatever a person using it wants it to mean. Generally, people tend to mean it to be "eating whole foods". And while whole foods are usually an important part of a diet, you don't get any bonus points for only eating them, and they are not a guarentee of success. You can eat "clean" and eat a diet with unbalanced macros and insufficient protein. You can eat at a surplus. You can eat at too big a deficit. What is most important is not the "cleanliness" of the food, but that it is an appropriate deficit for the goal.
Back to the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen". This phrase is 100% about calorie deficit. It's used to answer the people who ask "what exercises can I do for my abs", when they still carry too much body fat to have them visible. It's for people in my situation, who do plenty of ab exercises, but are never going to see them unless I lose significantly more weight through a calorie deficit. That is where it comes in. There's nothing about it, or getting abs, that relates to a way of eating being "clean".
I think what you said about a slow cut is the smartest most sound choice and its gonna be alot easier in the long run. If i keep working out and doing cardio along with a healthy diet im hoping within six months ill see the results im wanting. Do you think thats the best thing for me to do right now?
Don't go crazy with the cardio. You want cardio to keep your heart & lungs healthy, but too much can be counterproductive to building muscle. So don't feel like you need to kill yourself and get your heart rate up to the highest limit to get good results because you don't. I personally do 1-3 days max and 30 minutes max and I do not want my heart rate higher than 140. My sweet spot heart rate for cardio is 100-140. Anything higher and I feel out of whack (which is personal for me due to my low blood pressure issues).2 -
mcraburn123 wrote: »mcraburn123 wrote: »Ab muscles have nothing to do with eating clean, whatever that means to you. To have visible abs, you have to have sufficient ab muscle development and low enough body fat for them to show. Judging by your profile pic, you might have the muscle development but right now, you are not down to a low enough body fat for them to show. Eating clean isn't going to make that happen. A slight calories deficit, weight training and patience.
Yeah u sound like you know what u r talking about and that definitely makes sense. But im worried that to lose body fat id have to lose more weight and im 130 now. How should i go about losing body fat without getting too skinny? I also dont actually know my bf %
It's very slow but re-composition is how. You eat at maintenance and lift weights. It takes time. If you are 130, how tall are you?
Im 5'6 or 5'7 and ive tried fasting but lately its been making me sick. Ill get light headed abd almost pass out and occasionally ill even throw up for some reason
Dude you don't need to fast, or cut.... You're about my height and I needed to "recomp" from about 165 to 172 to really see solid definition. That's 30 to 40 lbs heavier than what you're at. Figure out maintenance, slight deficit, make sure you're on a solid progressive overload program and have patience.
My recomp took a TON of work and took almost a year.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p13 -
want a six pack - dont drink a six pack ---- basically eat right and hit the gym1
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mcraburn123 wrote: »Eating clean has very much to do with your results. Eating at a caloric deficit will help you drop weight but your body will look very different from eating 2,000 calories of sugar everyday versus eating 2,000 calories of a well balanced diet.
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Yea that's true because even when i wasnt working out and eating very clean i was seeing progress in body composition
Do your research. Look at the results. You can find plenty of people who went from what you look like in your profile picture to adding 20 lbs of muscle and getting completely ripped as well.
How were they able to gain weight, add lbs of muscle, and still drop fat? It wasn't by just eating McDonald's at a caloric deficit. These people eat "clean". Don't be fooled by the monolithic opinion here shown by everyone who hides behind the disagree button.
I think there's more books written on this topic than probably anything else out there. Content of your diet is very important, regardless of all the "disagree(s)" you see here.
Food is not created equally. Meaning different foods are processed and used differently in the body.
Just throwing it out there.....nobody is "hiding behind the disagree button". We just know how it works and that if poster already replied...we're just supposed to hit the disagree and move one. That way we don't have strings of posts making the same point, someone gets butthurt, reports for getting piled on and the thread goes away....
Unless you wanted to see 50 or so posts disagreeing with you.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯16 -
Alright thanks for the advice guys. I also wanna say i just bought creatine so ima start taking that along with whey isolate. I will also continue to eat clean but do yall think creatine is a good chooce for me? Why or why not?0
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mcraburn123 wrote: »Alright thanks for the advice guys. I also wanna say i just bought creatine so ima start taking that along with whey isolate. I will also continue to eat clean but do yall think creatine is a good chooce for me? Why or why not?
Creatine has benefits for almost anyone, even potentially for non-lifters. It is also relatively cheap as a supplement. There's no real downsides to taking it besides some people get stomach upset, and even that can be mitigated via switching from one daily dose to breaking it apart.
It is worth noting that it will cause water retention when loading up, which will show as strong weight gain.
I agree with the advise that you're probably looking at recomp or possibly a small bulk with a cut afterwards.
For comparison, I'm around your height and in my profile photo I was ~160. I agree you with the others that have said you'd potentially be at or near underweight to have a visible six pack at your current build.2 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »mcraburn123 wrote: »Alright thanks for the advice guys. I also wanna say i just bought creatine so ima start taking that along with whey isolate. I will also continue to eat clean but do yall think creatine is a good chooce for me? Why or why not?
Creatine has benefits for almost anyone, even potentially for non-lifters. It is also relatively cheap as a supplement. There's no real downsides to taking it besides some people get stomach upset, and even that can be mitigated via switching from one daily dose to breaking it apart.
It is worth noting that it will cause water retention when loading up, which will show as strong weight gain.
I agree with the advise that you're probably looking at recomp or possibly a small bulk with a cut afterwards.
For comparison, I'm around your height and in my profile photo I was ~160. I agree you with the others that have said you'd potentially be at or near underweight to have a visible six pack at your current build.
I agree with you. I see you have definite ab definition and if you are my height and weigh 160 you must have alot of muscle and a low bf %. I appreciate your advice and i just wanna ask, "do you think i should take creatine along with whey isolate and maybe eat at maintenance or continue to just eat slightly below what i burn each day?" I can tell you ive been starving and feeling like im fighting hunger all the time.0
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