So you want a nice stomach

So you're saying that a handful of M&Ms here and there won't eliminate my goal of a visibly enviable stomach? I eat clean (no processed/fast foods) about 90% of the time right now (M&Ms makes up the 10%) and lift heavy 6 days a week and HIIT for 60 min one day a week. I have shed a lot of pounds and my muscle is progressing quite nicely, but the damn tummy goblins are a Beotch!!! Tell me there is hope and that I don't have to become a total clean-eating fanatic forever!!! THANKS!

I follow about 80% clean and 20% whatever else I want. You'll stick to it long term if you keep eating those M&M's now and then (or even a small package nightly if that's what keeps you on track). I'm like a kid, if you tell me that I can't have something I want it even more.

I have a question regarding the most effective way of eating at a slight deficit for fat loss. The only fat loss I am looking for is in the abdomen region, as this seems to be the first and last place it goes on or reduces, so therefore I am also addressing the type of foods I am eating to see if it helps reduce stomach holding onto fat, i.e. no or hardly any gluten, etc.
If I eat at a 20% deficit of my TDEE - (which is 1980) - do I incorporate Carb cycling and eat only on a deficit on my non training days? Or do I eat at a deficit every day?

Fat loss comes from a calorie deficit. If you eat at a calorie deficit every other day your fat loss will be slower. If your deficit is 300 calories a day that would be 2100 for the week and if you ate at a deficit every other day that would be about half of that.

You can't pick where fat comes off. As I said at the bottom of my original post, "Losing fat is like trying to dry out a sponge. You can't dry a corner while the rest is still wet." Eliminating certain foods can reduce bloating or water retention and make you appear slimmer, but you can't target belly fat with specific foods.