Is it possible to get visible abs by July?

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I don't have weight to lose. With the way I'm eating (my own variation of the alternate day diet), I'm maintaining around 90 lb at 5'1. On most days I have a flat stomach. But I'm not happy with my body anymore; I want abs! I know a month is a short time frame but is it possible for me since I don't need to lose weight?

I also follow a lot of fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders/physique competitors on instagram. They do IIFYM and allow flexible dieting and still get amazing results. I'm planning on doing that too since I don't want to eat 6 meals of chicken and broccoli all day. I don't like going to the gym so what at home/non-gym ab exercises can I do? Can anyone recommend a program? I have p90x but I can't commit since it's full body exercises and it's too intensive for me so not that one.

This is how my stomach looks as of now:
35a2c9f.jpg

This is my goal:
ipmxrs.jpg

I want abs that are feminine like this. It's soft and not too defined like a guy's.
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Replies

  • wswilliams67
    wswilliams67 Posts: 938 Member
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    Define "I want abs!" please...

    Six packs are all about diet. You have to get a pretty low body fat % to really start seeing them. Your 'weight' has little to do with it, it's all about body fat. You could be 90lbs with a flat stomach and still have a high BF%.

    Sadly, it's going to be longer than 1 month to do it safely. But get started!
  • pinktiger8
    pinktiger8 Posts: 130
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    Also, are my stretchmarks really obvious? It's been 2.5 years...
  • Troublemonster
    Troublemonster Posts: 223 Member
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    It's very possible, you simply need to cut a little bit of body fat, not that you're fat at all, but exposing abs is more about cutting than building. You can do some ab work and compounds to help build the muscles but otherwise all you'll need is a squared away diet, you're practically there already.
  • kaylabrose
    kaylabrose Posts: 71
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    What kind of diet do you actually have to have to achieve a body like this? is it just eating clean or?
  • Troublemonster
    Troublemonster Posts: 223 Member
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    Cut out most of the extra sugar and junk, lift heavy/work hard. I got there with fairly high carbs (more than 300g/day right now) and around 0.4-0.5 g/fat/lb (80-100 g/day right now) and I lift heavy 4-5 days per week. I eat about a 10-15% excess on lifting days and do very little cardio and on my off days I eat at a 25% deficit following the TDEE stuff.

    My lifting focuses on the compounds with a bunch of other stuff thrown in for extra training volume. I also do direct ab work at the end of most of my lifting days.

    I have no idea if this is sound advice or not, it just seems to be working for me.
  • koing
    koing Posts: 179 Member
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    It's very possible, you simply need to cut a little bit of body fat, not that you're fat at all, but exposing abs is more about cutting than building. You can do some ab work and compounds to help build the muscles but otherwise all you'll need is a squared away diet, you're practically there already.

    It's not going to happen in a single month. Let's be realistic.

    If you could go from a flat stomach but with little muscle mass/ ab development to the girls 6 pack in a single month you would be the richest guy in the world.

    OP weight has little to do with having a 6 pack. What matters is ab development and body fat% (diet life style). Some guys need to drop to 8% to have a visible 6 pack. Others can get away with 14%. Why? It's due to ab development and how thick your abs are. The more trained you are the thicker your abs are and the higher bodyfat % you can get away with.

    If you follow all of the fitness/ physiquemodels you know they go to the gym. Why? It's easier to do compounds with equipment then it is at home unless you have all of that at home. You know that the models all do squats, deadlifts and other ab exercises. If you want to look like them you will have to do squats and deadlifts. And yes I will acknowledge that a small number of people can get away without doing squats and deadlifts but they are the exception and not the rule.

    You can get there but it will take more than a month.

    Koing
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
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    Oh my goodness - so are you telling me that all of the people I know who just do Yoga and bodyweight exercise routines don't really have visible abs? I better get myself down the gym then.
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    Be realistic; you can have this body but you have to put in the work for it and stay consistent. In a month? No. Why such short term goals?
  • PlayerHatinDogooder
    PlayerHatinDogooder Posts: 1,018 Member
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    Yes. It's certainly possible. Just eat at a moderate deficit and do resistance training.
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    Be realistic; you can have this body but you have to put in the work for it and stay consistent. In a month? No. Why such short term goals?
    In a month it's gonna be bikini time...
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    Be realistic; you can have this body but you have to put in the work for it and stay consistent. In a month? No. Why such short term goals?
    In a month it's gonna be bikini time...

    Well I better start crash dieting now!!! Gotta be in shape for a month then do it all again next year! :)
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    I don't have weight to lose. With the way I'm eating (my own variation of the alternate day diet), I'm maintaining around 90 lb at 5'1. On most days I have a flat stomach. But I'm not happy with my body anymore; I want abs! I know a month is a short time frame but is it possible for me since I don't need to lose weight?

    I also follow a lot of fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders/physique competitors on instagram. They do IIFYM and allow flexible dieting and still get amazing results. I'm planning on doing that too since I don't want to eat 6 meals of chicken and broccoli all day. I don't like going to the gym so what at home/non-gym ab exercises can I do? Can anyone recommend a program? I have p90x but I can't commit since it's full body exercises and it's too intensive for me so not that one..

    I'm going to say no, because you've put up a goal image of someone that trains her full body with intensive exercise but you explicitly state that you don't want to do intensive full body work. Like everything in life, you can only get out what you put in. The girl that has your goal abs took time to develop her abs (more than 6 weeks) but more importantly, she's sacrificed at the alter of strict dieting and hard workouts for a long time.

    When you're willing to commit to that I will change my answer to yes.
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
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    Even if you lose some fat, your abs won't look like hers. You might end up with a flat, maybe even slightly defined stomach. But an actual 6 pack takes lots of work. Basically, you need to put on some muscle mass to get that look.
    That won't happen in a month.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    I don't have weight to lose. With the way I'm eating (my own variation of the alternate day diet), I'm maintaining around 90 lb at 5'1. On most days I have a flat stomach. But I'm not happy with my body anymore; I want abs! I know a month is a short time frame but is it possible for me since I don't need to lose weight?

    I also follow a lot of fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders/physique competitors on instagram. They do IIFYM and allow flexible dieting and still get amazing results. I'm planning on doing that too since I don't want to eat 6 meals of chicken and broccoli all day. I don't like going to the gym so what at home/non-gym ab exercises can I do? Can anyone recommend a program? I have p90x but I can't commit since it's full body exercises and it's too intensive for me so not that one..

    I'm going to say no, because you've put up a goal image of someone that trains her full body with intensive exercise but you explicitly state that you don't want to do intensive full body work. Like everything in life, you can only get out what you put in. The girl that has your goal abs took time to develop her abs (more than 6 weeks) but more importantly, she's sacrificed at the alter of strict dieting and hard workouts for a long time.

    When you're willing to commit to that I will change my answer to yes.

    QFT
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    I don't have weight to lose. With the way I'm eating (my own variation of the alternate day diet), I'm maintaining around 90 lb at 5'1. On most days I have a flat stomach. But I'm not happy with my body anymore; I want abs! I know a month is a short time frame but is it possible for me since I don't need to lose weight?

    I also follow a lot of fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders/physique competitors on instagram. They do IIFYM and allow flexible dieting and still get amazing results. I'm planning on doing that too since I don't want to eat 6 meals of chicken and broccoli all day. I don't like going to the gym so what at home/non-gym ab exercises can I do? Can anyone recommend a program? I have p90x but I can't commit since it's full body exercises and it's too intensive for me so not that one..

    I'm going to say no, because you've put up a goal image of someone that trains her full body with intensive exercise but you explicitly state that you don't want to do intensive full body work. Like everything in life, you can only get out what you put in. The girl that has your goal abs took time to develop her abs (more than 6 weeks) but more importantly, she's sacrificed at the alter of strict dieting and hard workouts for a long time.

    When you're willing to commit to that I will change my answer to yes.

    QFT

    I'm going to also have to follow suit and say no. At your weight and based on the photo, you have a reasonably high body fat percent for your height and size, very little muscle tone, and no interest in doing the work it takes to do any body recomp.
  • Brad805
    Brad805 Posts: 289 Member
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    There is maybe 5-10lb at most covering the abs, but the real problem is the lack of muscle mass. You could lose the fat, but you will look like an anorexic and not like your goal. You will need to add probably 5-10lb of lean mass, and that could take up to a year or more with a tuned nutrition plan coupled with dedicated time gym. You can do the gym work at home, but you need some DB's and other items instead of thinking a P90 is gonna cut it. It is not just ab work either, sorry.

    BTW, your physique looks great, so be happy.
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    Personally, I think you have a great mid-section already, so you have a good base to start with in getting obtaining six pack. While July might be a little soon, you should be showing visible changes by then if you start now.

    I don't see any visible stretch marks in the picture - so only you know they're there. :smile:

    Diet is key - you need to lower your body fat percentage so you can see the muscles. However, you also need to do strength training (heavy lifting and core exercises) up to 5x a week to build those muscles. Never work the same body part two days in a row. It's okay to work out daily if you want to, just be sure you give the muscles you worked time to rest so they can repair themselves - that's how they actually get built.

    An added benefit too is that the more muscle you build, the higher your metabolism will be, therefore you get to eat more. Just be sure to get the right amount of protein and fiber by eating lean meats and veggies.

    Good luck!
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    Oh, and I just now read the part about you not wanting to put in the effort of a P90X type workout.

    I'm not going to lie to you - if you want those kind of results, that is the type of workout it's going to take to achieve them. It's dedication and sacrifice to a daily lifestyle that's going to get you to that point. It's not something you do for a month, and say, "Okay I'm there. Now what?"

    It can take years.

    Keep in mind too if you start something like P90X, you don't have to do as many reps as they do at the weights use. If your form is suffering, use lighter weights, and move up to larger ones as you get stronger. Your strength and endurance will increase as you keep doing the program.
  • medic2038
    medic2038 Posts: 434 Member
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    Another part of the problem with comparing yourself to pictures of other people, is that a lot of posing/lighting etc makes things look a bit different. MOST people don't walk around with low enough bodyfat to have visible abs 100% of the time, but in the right lighting and flexed well...

    Like many other people said it's all about body fat, and body composition. You can have 5 different people all at the same weight and they're all going to look completely different. Even if you put some of them at the same body fat level, they're still likely to look pretty different (based on LBM composition).
  • ahmadfahmy
    ahmadfahmy Posts: 214 Member
    Options
    I don't have weight to lose. With the way I'm eating (my own variation of the alternate day diet), I'm maintaining around 90 lb at 5'1. On most days I have a flat stomach. But I'm not happy with my body anymore; I want abs! I know a month is a short time frame but is it possible for me since I don't need to lose weight?

    I also follow a lot of fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders/physique competitors on instagram. They do IIFYM and allow flexible dieting and still get amazing results. I'm planning on doing that too since I don't want to eat 6 meals of chicken and broccoli all day. I don't like going to the gym so what at home/non-gym ab exercises can I do? Can anyone recommend a program? I have p90x but I can't commit since it's full body exercises and it's too intensive for me so not that one.

    This is how my stomach looks as of now:
    35a2c9f.jpg

    This is my goal:
    ipmxrs.jpg

    I want abs that are feminine like this. It's soft and not too defined like a guy's.

    what is your current body fat %?