Six pack abs - Anyone trying to get rid of that last layer of fat?

Well done mate, it seems like you have it all under control and know what your doing to achieve the results you want. I know some people will say that you don't have to hit abs directly and that compound exercises and diet is sufficient, but I've found that isolation work on the abs really does help. Basically I treat them like any other muscle and do weighted isolation exercises on my abs a couple of days a week. I'm bulking at the momment so I've kissed my abs goodbye (for now!). Although you probably wont build much new muscle in a deficit they will certainly "pop out" more. Good luck.

Hi mate

Sounds like you & I are about the same weight wise (I'm currently 172-174lb) & I've lost 8lb in the last 5-6 weeks through tweaking my diet after advice from a PT when he reviewed my MFP diary & I would say it's only in the last 2 weeks I've noticed good development in my abs.

I aim for 2,300 calories a day but looking at your summary I workout about twice as much so I burn off more calories. Your training is probably a good quality but the key is to keep changing it - both weights exercises & cardio. Eg in weights I change my sessions when I've done them twice & pretty much religiously time my rests between sets.

I don't have separate cardio days as I'll try & do a bit at the end of my weights sessions (that way theoretically you've used all your carbs on weights & wil be in the fat burning zone for your cardio. I of course don't achieve the same quality on cardio as if doing it fresh but I'm not looking to be proficient just butn off the most fat I can.

You also need to keep your cardio fresh as your body quickly gets used to it - eg I'll have a fortnight on each thing before I change between swimming, running, circuits, etc. my approach over the last 12 months has been pretty much all HIIT but I'm even get used to that now so for a while I've switched back to more steady state/longer duration cardio. Basically how much you sweat will tell you how effective - so if you've got swear going into your eyes you've had a good session

Lastly the best tip my PT game me on my diet was to analyse the types of carbs I was eating. I was eating a lot of sugary carbs in the form of whole fruit but he advised me to drop sugars (I more than halved my intake) & focus on getting starchy carbs. I would say this alone accounted for my recent half stone loss after my weight has been level for months.

Hope this helps - though of course we're all different & feel free to check out my diary if you like

I think it's a lot to do with the areas you really want to see are the hardest & therefore last places the fat remains

Is your food diary available to view & I'll happily have a quick look at it?

Just had a look at the last few days - essentially if it's keeping you satisfied & sufficiently energised it looks good.

With peanut butter, although it's high in protein is also very high in calories which is why I only use it as a mid-morning snack to get past the hunger. I probably wouldn't go for it as a component of a main meal line you did with breakfast.

Interesting you don't eat the egg yolks - there's a lot of goodness in them & a lot of false nonsense about the cholesterol being bad for you.

Your sugar intake looks fine, though you probably want to switch more focus on your sodium/salt intake as this could be bad for your health in the long term (eg you should aim for around 2,400mg of sodium a day whereas when you have baked beans its accounting for half your daily allowance)

Just my thoughts anyway - though I can only draw on what works for me. I try to eat regularly as otherwise I get hungry, it looks like you might err towards less frequent but bigger intakes, so you may want to try playing around with that.

My goal has basically been to get in what I'd consider my best possible shape leading up to a fortnight is Disney & my 40th bday next month. I basically wanted to see what I could achieve in terms of getting ripped.

I like being slim so I'm not craving bulking up but I'll need to see how I'm motivated when I'm back from hols in November. I love the training & progress I'm making but I might "normalise" a bit when I get back

Good luck with yours

For what it's worth, I found that the difference in my abs showing and not showing is only about 5 pounds. I can lose sight of them after a long weekend of eating and drinking too much! Apparently my abs are the last place I lose body fat and the first place I gain it. I just had my annual Bod Pod test and while I'm at 12.9% body fat, I still manage to have 4 abs showing fairly well and the bottom two trying to make an appearance (may never happen). I do mostly compound lifts (Bench Press, OHP, Deadlifts, Squats, plus a ton of pull ups/push up), but I also throw in twice-per-week isolation work on my core, such as Toes to Bars, L-sits, and weighted GHD sit-ups. I don't want to lose any more overall weight so I will continue with my long, slow, steady recomp and just see what happens. At 51 yrs old, I'll be happy if I can just maintain what I've accomplished over the last two years. In my experience, its 99% nutrition....