Abs are made in the kitchen eh??

Weight loss is all about calorie deficit. Eating clean, besides being a totally meaningless term, is completely unnecessary. Eat whatever you like, just maintain a decent deficit.

Oh my, yes, please adopt a paleo diet! It's the best because it excludes vast swaths of perfectly healthy food for no good reason.

I'm not a fan of paleo, but your comment was really not helpful. The person came here for suggestions, not snide remarks.

Weight loss is all about calorie deficit. Eating clean, besides being a totally meaningless term, is completely unnecessary. Eat whatever you like, just maintain a decent deficit.

I would expand on this and say that deficit and THEN macros. Specifically making sure you are getting enough protein.
Abs are about muscle showing due to low body fat levels. For this you're going to get results quicker ensuring both are met.

So rather than eating 'clean', I'd suggest focusing on getting enough protein, which time and again has been proven to reduce muscle loss.
I'd also add a weight lifting routine to help the same.

A basic guide is .8g of protein per lb of body weight.

If you still want to tell yourself you're eating "clean" after that, go for it - it probably won't cause any problems .

Weight loss is all about calorie deficit. Eating clean, besides being a totally meaningless term, is completely unnecessary. Eat whatever you like, just maintain a decent deficit.

I would expand on this and say that deficit and THEN macros. Specifically making sure you are getting enough protein.
Abs are about muscle showing due to low body fat levels. For this you're going to get results quicker ensuring both are met.

So rather than eating 'clean', I'd suggest focusing on getting enough protein, which time and again has been proven to reduce muscle loss.
I'd also add a weight lifting routine to help the same.

A basic guide is .8g of protein per lb of body weight.

If you still want to tell yourself you're eating "clean" after that, go for it - it probably won't cause any problems .

Yep^

Calorie deficit to lose the body fat. A good amount of protein and resistance training to build strength and prevent muscle loss. Eat enough nutrient dense foods to meet minimum micro nutrient needs and the rest can be whatever you enjoy.

No need to follow any "diet" other than that or even if you wish to it should still meet those basic requirements.

Add time and patience and you should be happy and healthy for a long time.

"Abs are made in the kitchen" refers to the fact that to have visible abs you have to cut body fat. You don't have to eat clean or subscribe to any particular diet to do this...you just have to reduce your caloric intake. If you have very little weight to lose you would want only a very modest deficit. The other part of that equation is you have to have muscle for them to be visible when you cut the fat...which is where a good heavy lifting routine would come into play.

Also keep in mind that having visible and defined abs requires one to be at a very low body fat %...an "athletic" figure for a women is generally around 20% BF which is pretty low for a woman...but visibly cut abs are not going to happen even at 20%...you're going to have to go lower than that...you might have some around 15% or so, but really we're talking 10-12% BF. For a guy that can be difficult to maintain, particularly as we age...for women, it is much harder due to women naturally have a higher BF%. To be honest, I know a couple of women who are that lean and have that low of BF% and they don't have regular menstrual cycles and one of them is trying to put on a little fat in order to get those back because she wants to get pregnant...no guarantees though. Not that that will happen to you, but something to be mindful of if this is really a goal of yours.

Anyway, that aside...your diet (noun) should really be something that is personalized to you and that you can stick to. I personally eat a diet that consists largely of nutrient dense whole foods and I cook most things from scratch...but I do eat some processed foods...pretty hard not to these days, but I try to keep things to minimal processing. I basically try to get most of my nutrition from food.

"Abs are made in the kitchen" refers to the fact that to have visible abs you have to cut body fat. You don't have to eat clean or subscribe to any particular diet to do this...you just have to reduce your caloric intake. If you have very little weight to lose you would want only a very modest deficit. The other part of that equation is you have to have muscle for them to be visible when you cut the fat...which is where a good heavy lifting routine would come into play.

Also keep in mind that having visible and defined abs requires one to be at a very low body fat %...an "athletic" figure for a women is generally around 20% BF which is pretty low for a woman...but visibly cut abs are not going to happen even at 20%...you're going to have to go lower than that...you might have some around 15% or so, but really we're talking 10-12% BF. For a guy that can be difficult to maintain, particularly as we age...for women, it is much harder due to women naturally have a higher BF%. To be honest, I know a couple of women who are that lean and have that low of BF% and they don't have regular menstrual cycles and one of them is trying to put on a little fat in order to get those back because she wants to get pregnant...no guarantees though. Not that that will happen to you, but something to be mindful of if this is really a goal of yours.

Anyway, that aside...your diet (noun) should really be something that is personalized to you and that you can stick to. I personally eat a diet that consists largely of nutrient dense whole foods and I cook most things from scratch...but I do eat some processed foods...pretty hard not to these days, but I try to keep things to minimal processing. I basically try to get most of my nutrition from food.

I love this post.

There is also the fact that fat distribution has a genetic/heritable component and for some women, visible abs can be extremely difficult to achieve.