Can you eat junk foods and lift and still see your abs?

nicoleseph0321
nicoleseph0321 Posts: 38 Member
edited November 28 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi everyone! I’m not sure if this fits best in the fitness or the food and nutrition boards, so I am going to post it here lol.

For context, I’m a 5’7” female, 148 pounds. I lost 10 pounds over the winter and I’ve been maintaining for a few months now by tracking my food, running and working out. I’m pretty happy with my overall size and level of fitness but would like to see more muscle and definition.. I just want to be overall super lean and ripped looking I guess. So I’m on week 2 of Strong Curves (love it so far!). Plan is to maintain a tiny calorie deficit as I go because while I’m not looking to lose lots of weight, I’d still like to be overall a bit smaller and “tighter”.

My question is, can you see your abs and be ripped looking if you eat in an 80/20 “good for you”/“junk” type of diet? If you stay within maintenance or a small deficit for calories? I’ve heard the saying that abs are made in the gym and revealed in the kitchen, which totally makes sense, like you can’t just exercise away a bad diet. But I tend to have a treat every day, like a cookie, some froyo, pizza, etc. To see good results muscle-wise would I need to tighten up and not eat any of these “splurge” foods even if they fit in my calories, or does the type of food that the calories come from really not matter when I’m lifting?

Replies

  • Rose18l
    Rose18l Posts: 147 Member
    It is all about calories in vs calories out + genetics. My fat is mostly around my legs so I get abs visible when I am still high around bodyfat. That said abs only show when body fat is low enough. For many females this is not really sustainable for a long time. For the junk question, yes you can eat junk food but you have to watch calories and make sure you still get your protein in.
  • VictoriaTuel
    VictoriaTuel Posts: 1,604 Member
    I would second (third?) that a lot has to do with genetics, and then staying under calories overall.

    I live on a diet of probably about 60% vegetables and 40% sweets sometimes, and I have a 6-pack, but my body does not like to store any fat in my upper body. I'm 172 cm (5'7"-5'8") and weigh 59kg/130lbs now, but even when I weighed 79kg/175lbs you could still see some of my ribs, and at 68/150 I already had some definition in my abs.

    I also try to make my treats somewhat healthy: I'll mix Greek yogurt into recipes, choose the smallest cookie, eat fruit based desserts first, but I also don't feel bad if I eat a donut; I just account for it later. I think being honest with yourself about what you ate so you're tracking accurately is most important.

    That being said, if you eat enough salt/sugar/food to get bloated (like I do sometimes), your abs won't be as defined until you reset. I was 61kg/135lbs from the weekend and my lower abs lost definition, but now I've mostly rest and have my 6-pack back!
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member

    You'll want to watch macros enough to ensure that you are getting adequate protein (and fat and fiber), but outside of that - whatever fits is fine. (caveat: this may potentially not leave a lot of calories for "junk food" if you aren't also getting in plenty of cardio). I think my abs are pretty good looking although not 'ripped' (more 4-pack than 6-pack, I could stand to lose a few more lbs) and I eat plenty of junk. My protein minimum is set to 0.85*(ideal weight in lbs).
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    .. Genetics-wise, my weight goes to my thighs first rather than my abs.

    as mentioned above, what you immediately ate will affect the appearance of your stomach and abs (expect a bit less definition after restaurant food - almost always fairly high salt, etc).
  • VictoriaTuel
    VictoriaTuel Posts: 1,604 Member
    @CharlieBeansmomTracey I'm resetting back to my normal eating habits, maybe with a little deficit if I went very overboard.

    I went out for dinner and drinks every day this weekend because I was traveling with friends, so there was a lot of salt and fats involved that I don't normally eat. Also, for me, drinking alcohol means drinking less water because I can only intake so much fluid. Now that a fair bit of the salt and alcohol has been processed by my body, I'm closer to my average size and weight again.
  • hollen_carol
    hollen_carol Posts: 121 Member
    edited September 2018
    Ooops.....nevermind :)
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Junk food is not magical. It's just calories and macros like other food. If you need carbs and already have your micronutrients covered, a cookie is a fine way to get carbs if it fits in your calories. If you need protein and fat a shake or burger is a fine way to get that. Most "Junk" is just food which tends to have a high fat and refined carb content and not a lot of micronutrients. 80/20 works well for many people because you can get the nutrients you need from the 80, so the 20 can be nutrient-poor. But if you're eating in a deficit you may not be able to get all your nutrients in without focusing on nutrient-dense foods. That won't stop you from losing weight, it's just not optimal for health overall.

    You will not have visible abs and look ripped unless you drop below a certain percentage of body fat and have built up a certain amount of abdominal muscle. So question you are really asking is, can you personally drop below that level of bodyfat while eating enough protein to maintain your muscles and enough extra calories to fit in your treats? And the answer is, I don't know. It depends on what else you eat, and how many calories you burn. For many women, visible abs are not practical. Below a certain percentage of body fat some women stop menstruating. Other women are just not built to have visible ridges down their bellies. And some women hold on to their belly fat until almost all of their body fat is gone. You may need to drop your calories low enough not to easily fit in treats, or raise your activity level higher than you are happy doing, to get to the level of body fat you want. You won't know until you try it.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    VictoriaTuel wrote: »
    @CharlieBeansmomTracey I'm resetting back to my normal eating habits, maybe with a little deficit if I went very overboard.

    I went out for dinner and drinks every day this weekend because I was traveling with friends, so there was a lot of salt and fats involved that I don't normally eat. Also, for me, drinking alcohol means drinking less water because I can only intake so much fluid. Now that a fair bit of the salt and alcohol has been processed by my body, I'm closer to my average size and weight again.

    ahh ok that clears that up then lol. when most people talk about a reset they think it means resetting metbolism and so on(that you cant do). also alcohol is always the first thing your body will try to process over everything else so theres that to consider as well.
  • showjack70
    showjack70 Posts: 57 Member
    Congrats on the weight loss and subsequent maintenance!

    Can you eat junk foods and still see your abs? Maybe. Have you been trying to drop more weight but are stuck? If so, the junk food could be part of the problem, but it could also be due to many other factors as well. You could always try cutting back on the junk food and see what happens. Everyone is a little different. Experiment and see.

  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    Just for some perspective....I’m vegan and eat very, very little processed food. I’m also 5-7” and female currently 135#

    When I wanted to see abs I cut to 121 and 19% body fat. Just started to get a glimpse of a 6 pack. I’m guessing I would need to have been closer to 18% (maybe 118) to get real definition. It wasn’t maintainable at the time.
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