My Secret to a Six Pack
damonmath
Posts: 359 Member
A lot of MFP friends ask me all the time for advice on the secret to a six pack. This article is an attempt to answer that question based on my own personal experiences with weight loss, working out, and nutrition.
Disclaimer: By no means am I a doctor nor have any of these statements been approved by a doctor, the FDA, or any other health services professional. The information presented is 100% opinion based on the sole knowledge of the Original poster of this article.
How I got my six pack was based on a number of factors. Discipline, will power, and nutrition. It is important to follow a strict set of rules in order to maximize your success. The abs are the most difficult and last area of fat to be burned off. In order to reach them you have to eliminate certain foods from your diet, hit your calorie numbers daily, and avoid counterproductive foods and habits.
Since fat loss has to occur in order to reach and show your abs, it is important to eliminate the foods from your diet that are counter productive to your success. These foods include processed carbs like bread (that can turn to sugar in the body if not used), raw sugar, saturated fats (to a degree), soda, and excess fats.
What I do is try to eat from a menu of foods that can only help the end goal. These foods include: Oatmeal, brown rice, black beans, fish, skinless chicken breasts, greek yogurt, olive oil, flax seeds, and flax seed oil. For my vegetable servings I try to drink 2 4oz glasses of V8 juice daily. I also supplement by meals with whey protein and Myoplex shakes. It is important to get at least 1 gram of protein for every 1 lb. of goal weight. In my opinion this is one of the greatest reasons some people who lose weight become ripped (from the right amount of protein) while others just get smaller in size. IMO - not getting enough protein will cause your body to grab protein from your body instead of your food source. This will cause your muscles to shrink over time if protein is not supplemented.
Working out to build your abs is not neccessary until you begin to reach a point in your weight loss where your upper 4 pack begins to show. When this happens, you are in a good position to build some muscle as you continue to burn fat. Using weights during your crunches and ab routines will build bigger muscles than no weights. This is how body builders pop their abs off there mid section, rather than just having a six pack in general.
To get to this point you have to be burning fat and losing weight. It is important that you are eating as clean as possible while staying under your caloric goals daily. People will tell you to follow a strict diet for 6 days and then have a cheater day. CHEATER DAYS ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE! I skip the cheater day in favor of a cheater goal scheduled a few weeks after your six pack goal. The goal is a six pack not just weight loss, so rewarding yourself with fatty foods will only extend your journey. This is where will power plays a hand in keeping you on track to succeed.
About nutrition... This has been debated all over MFP as well as the internet and nutrition circles. I have tried both sides of the argument and found that more meals per day wins over less meals per day. This is purely based out of my own experiences. I have found that 6 meals spaced less than 3 hours apart and no more than 700 calories in any one sitting is better than 3 well balanced meals. I can't explain it scientifically other than to say that insulin spikes are reduced between meals and your digestive system is constantly in process mode rather than working at only 3 times per day. I try to include a carb, a fat, and a protein at every meal. I avoid red meat because of the saturated fat of red meat that cannot be removed as easily as say a chicken skin. I take several supplements as well, they include: CLA (8000mgs/day), L-Carnatine (1000mgs/day), Creatine (800mgs/day), and 2 multi-vitamins daily.
The most difficult part is following your routine everyday. It can get really boring eating the same foods day in and day out. The rewards are a ripped mid-section! Good luck to anyone with this as their goal!
~Damon
Disclaimer: By no means am I a doctor nor have any of these statements been approved by a doctor, the FDA, or any other health services professional. The information presented is 100% opinion based on the sole knowledge of the Original poster of this article.
How I got my six pack was based on a number of factors. Discipline, will power, and nutrition. It is important to follow a strict set of rules in order to maximize your success. The abs are the most difficult and last area of fat to be burned off. In order to reach them you have to eliminate certain foods from your diet, hit your calorie numbers daily, and avoid counterproductive foods and habits.
Since fat loss has to occur in order to reach and show your abs, it is important to eliminate the foods from your diet that are counter productive to your success. These foods include processed carbs like bread (that can turn to sugar in the body if not used), raw sugar, saturated fats (to a degree), soda, and excess fats.
What I do is try to eat from a menu of foods that can only help the end goal. These foods include: Oatmeal, brown rice, black beans, fish, skinless chicken breasts, greek yogurt, olive oil, flax seeds, and flax seed oil. For my vegetable servings I try to drink 2 4oz glasses of V8 juice daily. I also supplement by meals with whey protein and Myoplex shakes. It is important to get at least 1 gram of protein for every 1 lb. of goal weight. In my opinion this is one of the greatest reasons some people who lose weight become ripped (from the right amount of protein) while others just get smaller in size. IMO - not getting enough protein will cause your body to grab protein from your body instead of your food source. This will cause your muscles to shrink over time if protein is not supplemented.
Working out to build your abs is not neccessary until you begin to reach a point in your weight loss where your upper 4 pack begins to show. When this happens, you are in a good position to build some muscle as you continue to burn fat. Using weights during your crunches and ab routines will build bigger muscles than no weights. This is how body builders pop their abs off there mid section, rather than just having a six pack in general.
To get to this point you have to be burning fat and losing weight. It is important that you are eating as clean as possible while staying under your caloric goals daily. People will tell you to follow a strict diet for 6 days and then have a cheater day. CHEATER DAYS ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE! I skip the cheater day in favor of a cheater goal scheduled a few weeks after your six pack goal. The goal is a six pack not just weight loss, so rewarding yourself with fatty foods will only extend your journey. This is where will power plays a hand in keeping you on track to succeed.
About nutrition... This has been debated all over MFP as well as the internet and nutrition circles. I have tried both sides of the argument and found that more meals per day wins over less meals per day. This is purely based out of my own experiences. I have found that 6 meals spaced less than 3 hours apart and no more than 700 calories in any one sitting is better than 3 well balanced meals. I can't explain it scientifically other than to say that insulin spikes are reduced between meals and your digestive system is constantly in process mode rather than working at only 3 times per day. I try to include a carb, a fat, and a protein at every meal. I avoid red meat because of the saturated fat of red meat that cannot be removed as easily as say a chicken skin. I take several supplements as well, they include: CLA (8000mgs/day), L-Carnatine (1000mgs/day), Creatine (800mgs/day), and 2 multi-vitamins daily.
The most difficult part is following your routine everyday. It can get really boring eating the same foods day in and day out. The rewards are a ripped mid-section! Good luck to anyone with this as their goal!
~Damon
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Replies
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I would have never thought to use weights during crunches/ab routines. Great info, thanks for posting!0
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Two quick questions:
You don't worry about the sodium in the V-8?
And just to clarify - you need to eat 1 gram of protien for every pound of goal weight so if my ultimate goal weight is 150 lbs I would have to eat 150 grams of protien per day?
You do look very nice - you're hard work and dedication is very apparent.0 -
Very sexy chest & abs
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Great post. I do the nutrition part already and am starting to see changes but all the other info is great, too. I feel the same way on the "cheating" part. I don't want to un-do all the hard work I did.0
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Bump ..and nice Abs my friend0
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I wouldn't necessarily say that my goal is ripped abs. But I did pick up several great tips from your post. Thank you! :flowerforyou:0
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Any chance you would open up your food diary so we could see some examples of an average day?0
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This is a great post. I've heard many times that abs are created in the kitchen, not in the gym. That goes along with a lot of what you said. Thanks for this!0
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@GoLeanWendy
Yes your six pack is already there! Everyone has a six pack under their belly fat.
Since you are already lean and mean, I would guess that you would need to eat a surplus of protein/carbs/fat in order to build new muscle. This does not happen rapidly. The only way to do this is to tear down the old muscle so new muscle can repair and grow in its place. I use weights to create the tears in the muscles needed to do this. Your core is used daily in just about everything you do, so by default your abs are a certain size to accomodate this daily activity. Increasing the weights will shock and tear your abs so that new growth can take place.
@jkestens63
You don't worry about the sodium in the V-8?
YES I DO! lol I worry about this all the time. I spoke with my doctor who prefers taking a pill to trying to stay under on sodium. He says its a virtually impossible task when a simple pill later in life will take care of you. Yeah I was shocked at that answer too! But at least he was honest about it. I drink V8 because it is a liquid that does not add any bulk to my frame. Veggies can be gassy and take up space in your digestive system. Getting your belly as flat as possible will help to expose your six pack better.
And just to clarify - you need to eat 1 gram of protien for every pound of goal weight so if my ultimate goal weight is 150 lbs I would have to eat 150 grams of protien per day?
Yes! 0 -
Great post Damon. Keep on keepin on!0
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I would have never thought to use weights during crunches/ab routines. Great info, thanks for posting!
Hypertrophy, just like any other muscle..0 -
I'm so far from a six pack the only six pack I'll see is in the fridge! 0
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Damon. Alot of your post is good info however you don't have to eat clean to obtain a sick pack, nor do you have to eat a bunch of smaller meals. If Alan Aragon, Lyle McDonald, and Martin Berkan visited these forums they would interject this thread as well with the myths of dieting and nutrition. I'm not saying that you eating clean and a bunch of small meals every few hours doesn't work, it does...but it's unecessary.
Head over to bodybuilding.com in the Nutrition forum section and talk to alot of the regulars there. They will explain. As long as you are getting your calorie intake and hitting your protein and fat macros daily that coincide with your TDEE level and your goals, you will obtain the six pack with time.
Thank you for the info though. You seemed to have great success with your diet plan and training bud.1 -
Love the no B.S. post! Feel free to add me! Abs are made in the kitchen!0
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bump0
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Good stuff, thanks for sharing0
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@joejccva71
Yes it is possible to do it without eating clean, etc... I have tried it other ways and failed. So for my body type and metabolism, 6 clean meals works best. I have a brother in-law that only eats 1 meal a day and he's ripped. However, he works out all day long as a construction worker, so his work outs are intense to say the least. Mine are not as intense (less than an hour a day) so I don't have the time nor energy it takes to burn off additional fats and calories.
I understand the debate and I agree with both sides, but like I said, for me the spaced out meals works the best.
Edit: I agree with this statement:
"Head over to bodybuilding.com in the Nutrition forum section and talk to alot of the regulars there. They will explain. As long as you are getting your calorie intake and hitting your protein and fat macros daily that coincide with your TDEE level and your goals, you will obtain the six pack with time. "0 -
Good info.0
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Thank you for the information! I'm slowly trying to eat clean, but it is alot harder than I thought!
Great abs by the way! I just want a flat stomach, but if I can get abs I'll take them!0 -
Awesome post! I try to live by those rules myself, but have found myself straying a bit lately. Thanks for redirecting me!0
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