Belly fat or subcutaneus fat

jeffpettis

To get "cut" abs, your body fat % is going to have to be really low, so low that it's not healthy to sustain unless you're naturally this way.

That means if I am in 20%, I'm in healthy fat range with love handles and I should preserve them.

You will not be in an unhealthy BF% range to see a nice set of abs. If this was the case most athletes would be considered unhealthy. If you get your BF% down to around 12% or so you should have a nice set of abs considering there is ab muscle there to show in the first place. Remember just because you get your BF% down doesn't automatically assure nice "cut" abs, the muscle has to actually be there.