6 Pack Abs Are Made in the Kitchen
The Materials and Tools to Burn Fat and Get Ripped Abs
Do you want to have chiseled, rock hard 6 Pack Abs?
If you answered "Yes!" to that question, then you have come to the right place.
Read on to receive simple, tried and true tips and tricks regarding six pack nutrition and exercises.
To obtain chiseled abs, you must burn belly fat. All of the sit ups in the world will do you no good if you have layer of fat covering all of your hard work.
Remember this saying:"Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym."
While it is essential that you exercise to build and tone your abdominal muscles and burn fat, your nutrition plan is the most important component to achieve ripped abs. If you don't burn fat around your belly, you will never get a glimpse of your 6-pack.
Q: So what do you need to get 6 pack abs?
A: In a nutshell, you need two things:
- An unwavering desire to get ripped abs, and
- The right information.
We assume that you would not have surfed our way if you did not have a tremendous desire to get a set of ripped and ready 6-pack abs.
So, now that you are here, we will supply number 2, the right information to lose belly fat and get a ripped midsection. So let's start the journey to "trim the fat" and reveal those 6 pack abs.
The Proper Six Pack Abs Nutrition to Lose Belly Fat
Remember, "Your Body IS Your Business."™ This means that you need to cut costs and "trim the fat" at your business to get the most return for all of the crunches you do in the gym to reveal your 6 pack abs.Most people know that they need to burn fat and work their abs through exercise. What they do not know, however, is how much fat they need to burn to see the fruits of their labor.
Q: What percentage of body fat do I need to get to in order to reveal my 6-pack abs?
A: In general, your body fat percentage needs to be less than 10% for men and 14% for women to begin to see your 6 pack abs.
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Obtaining 6 pack abs requires meticulous monitoring of what, how much, and when you eat.
This is why they say, "Six Pack Abs are Made in the Kitchen."
Without proper six pack nutrition, the building materials for the body you desire, most of us will carry those few pounds of fat that are hiding our six pack abs from the world.
Imagine building your dream home, but when the building materials arrive, instead of granite and marble, you get a pile of sand and some water to mix it with. Your dream house will not end up being so dreamy, but instead, will just be a pile of wet sand!
The same is true of your body. The most important component when learning how to get a six pack is ensuring that you have you have the correct building materials to burn fat.
Therefore, it is essential to get your six pack nutrition plan worked out, so that you have the right materials in the right amounts and at the right times to build your dream body and reveal those 6 pack abs!
Understanding how much, when, and what to eat to get abs is essential to burning belly fat to expose a ripped midsection.
Q: How much should I eat to burn fat fast and reveal my 6-pack abs?
A: The answer depends on a lot of factors, such as your lifestyle and current body weight and composition. The most important thing to understand, however, is that you need to put your body in a state of calorie deficit to burn fat fast.
Note: You can calculate your approximate calorie needs by reading our three part series on "Calories Per Day."
Therefore, it is time to put down the Big Mac and get down to business.
The trick to understanding how to get a 6 pack, however, is to burn as much fat as possible while minimizing the amount of muscle lost.
As a result, to get a 6 pack stomach, how we reduce calories is as important as the calorie reduction itself.
What and How Much do I Need to Eat to get 6 Pack Abs?
As we said, you must burn more calories than you eat to lose weight and burn enough fat and let your 6 pack abs see the glowing light of day.
Q:How many calories do I need to burn in order to lose a pound of fat?
A: One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. Therefore, you need to be in a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day to lose 1 pound of fat per week.
You should not attempt to lose more than 1 or 2 pounds per week. Aside from the health risks, losing more than that amount will lead to muscle loss and a slower metabolism.
So, how many calories do you need to eat per day to lose fat?
Below is a quick and easy way to estimate the number of calories you need to lose weight. These articles offer a more detailed and accurate description of the calorie calculation.
First, begin by determining your maintenance calorie level. This is done by multiplying your lean body mass by 15. For example, if you are 220 pounds with 10% body fat, then your lean body mass is
220 x (1 - 0.10) = 200 pounds of lean body mass
Now multiply 200 by 15 to get your maintenance calories.
200 x 15 = 3000 calories
In order to lose weight, specifically one pound per week, you should reduce this number of calories by 500. This means you daily caloric intake in this example would be 2500 calories.
Reduce Your Carbohydrate Intake to get 6 Pack Abs
Your body uses calories from carbohydrates as its primary source of energy. After carbs, your body uses fat, followed by muscle for energy.
By cutting your carbohydrate intake, you not only reduce calories, but you also deplete the body's primary source of energy, causing your body to turn to fat as its primary source of energy. Burning excess fat, as we know, is essential to seeing your 6 pack abs.
When building muscle, up to 60% of the calories you consume should come from carbohydrates. However, as a general rule, when reducing body fat to get ripped abs, you should cut this to 40%.
Therefore, if our daily caloric intake is 2500 calories per day, then
2500 x 0.40 = 1000 calories
should come from carbohydrates. Since 1 gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, you should eat
1000 / 4 = 250 grams
of carbohydrates per day.
In addition to reducing carbs to get 6 pack abs, you should shift your carb intake to primarily low glycemic index carbohydrates. Generally, the glycemic index measures the degree that a particular food causes a spike in insulin. Increases in insulin trigger you body to store body fat. This is not good if you want to see those 6 pack abs.
Some examples of low glycemic index carbs are
- oatmeal,
- red potatoes,
- yams,
- multi grain and whole grain bread,
- whole wheat pasta,
- brown rice, and
- most vegetables.
Since low glycemic index carbohydrates are high in fiber, they generally digest very slowly, causing us to feel full longer, which helps keep our calories low.
Additionally, the slower digestion allows for a more gradual conversion to glucose, the body's primary energy source. This moderates insulin secretion. As we mentioned earlier, spikes in insulin caused by consuming high glycemic index foods trigger the body to begin storing fat. Therefore, reducing spikes in insulin, limits the amount of excess fat storage.
Increase Your Protein Intake to get 6 Pack Abs
Your goal when dieting is to maintain as much muscle as possible while burning fat. This will keep your metabolism burning as efficiently as possible. When in a calorie deficit, you run the very real risk of losing muscle in addition to fat. Maintaining as much hard-earned muscle as possible is necessary to display your 6 pack abs.
When building muscle fast, you should get approximately 20 to 30% of your calories come from protein. When burning fat to show off your ripped abs, this percentage should increase to approximately 40%.
For a daily target of 2500 calories, this equates to 1000 calories from protein per day. Like carbs, protein contains 4 calories per gram of protein. Therefore, you are shooting for approximately 250 grams of protein per day. For a person with 200 pounds of lean body mass, this equates to 1.25 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
Eating sufficient protein is a key ingredient to obtaining your 6 pack abs. This is because eating protein helps increase the metabolism, which is essential to maximizing fat loss.
Reduce Bad Fat and Increase Good Fat Intake to get 6 Pack Abs
One gram of fat contains 9 calories. Compare that to carbohydrates and protein, which each have only 4 calories per gram. Its clear that your get "more bang" for cutting a gram of fat.
The fact is that you need fats. Not all fats are equal, however. "Bad" fats (saturated fats and trans fatty acids) can raise cholesterol levels in your blood.
"Good" fats, on the other hand, have numerous health benefits. In particular, Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are used for functions other than energy production and are not stored as fat.
Essential Fatty Acids increase your metabolic rate, which results in fat loss, making them essential for 6 pack abs.
You should keep your total fat intake to less than 20% of your total calories. Of that, nearly all of your fat intake should come from good fats.
For our example 2500 calorie target, this is 500 calories from fat per day. This equates to
500 / 9 = 55.56 grams of fat per day.
A few excellent sources of good fats include:
- Avocados,
- Olive Oil,
- Tuna, and
- Nuts.
When Should I Eat to Get 6 Pack Abs?
Eat Several Small Meals for 6 Pack Abs
In order to see your 6 pack abs, you should eat 5 to 8 small meals per day. These meals should be spaced out ever 2 to 3 hours, and each meal should contain protein to maintain your hard earned muscles.
Eating more frequently increases your metabolism, allowing you to burn more fat to progress to your goal of ripped abs.
If you get 8 hours of sleep per night (meaning that you are awake for the remaining 16 hours), then by eating ever 3 hours, you will get 5 meals per day. Eating every 2 hours will get you 8 meals per day.
The more times you eat per day, the more calories you will burn. This is because every time you eat, you increase your metabolism slightly.
In addition to increasing your metabolism, eating more often also reduces cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that causes an increase in belly fat.
Eating several times per day in necessary to trim fat and get 6 pack abs.
Eat Your Carbs Earlier in the Day to Get 6 Pack Abs
As we discussed earlier, the type of carbs you eat can cause variations in insulin, triggering your body to store fat. In addition to the types of carbohydrates you eat, you can control insulin spikes by avoiding carbs later in the day.
Due to your body's natural circadian rhythm, insulin sensitivity decreases later in the day (after approximately 6PM). This means that your insulin is not as efficient at moving nutrients into your muscles. As a result of this decreased sensitivity, more insulin must be produced to do the same amount of work.
Obviously, this is a problem, since increases in insulin trigger fat storage. By eating meals heavy in carbohydrates later in the day, you get an even higher spike in insulin, causing your body to store even more fat.
This spike in insulin will obviously cripple your efforts for ripped abs. To keep this from happening, make sure that any carbs you eat later in the day come mostly from fiber rich sources such as vegetables like broccoli. Also, continue to focus on lean, muscle building protein and essential fatty acids (EFAs).
The "Magic Potion" for 6 Pack Abs - Water
We've talked a great deal about what, how much, and when to eat to get 6 Pack abs. What we haven't mentioned, and what a lot of people fail to mention altogether, is that you have, at your disposal, a virtually unlimited supply of a magic formula that will help you shed those extra pounds hiding your ripped abs.On average, your body is made up of over 70% water. Therefore, in order for your body to function properly, you need to take in sufficient water.
If you fail to get enough water, your body will react by holding on to as much of what you do take in as it can. This excess water will often leaving you looking (and feeling) bloated.
What is the best way to get rid of this excess water? Simple. Drink more water! It signals your body that it is not in a drought, and that it does not need to store excess water for later.
In addition, water allows your kidneys to function at an optimal level, which allows your liver to more efficiently metabolize fat. This is because your liver picks up the slack when your kidneys are not functioning at an optimal level, making the fat metabolism process less productive.
Finally, drinking a glass of water before a meal will help you to eat less. The glass of water will help you to feel full sooner. Water is an excellent appetite suppressant.
How much water do I need to drink for 6 pack abs?
Recommendations on water intake vary. The most common recommendation on water intake is 8 glasses per day. If each glass is 8 ounces, which is 64 total ounces per day. This is a pretty good starting point.
However, to optimize your fat burning process and get to those 6 pack abs, you should aim for between 50 and 64 ounces per 100 pounds of lean body mass (0.64 ounces per pound). For our hypothetical person above who has 200 pounds of lean mass, that is 128 ounces - 1 full gallon of water.
This may not be easy to begin with, but you should gradually work up to it.
To calculate your optimal amount of water, use this formula:
Lean Body Mass x 0.64 = Optimal Water Intake in Ounces
Table: How Much Water Should You Drink?
What Types of Exercises Should I Do for 6 Pack Abs?
I am sure you are expecting a solid list of the best abdominal workouts consisting of sit-ups and crunches. While that is all well and good, you can do 1,000 crunches per day, and never see your 6 pack abs.Chances are, your current abdominal workout is sufficient to develop your abs. This, of course, assumes you are training your abs.
However, if you do not currently have a workout for your abs, you and click here for the best ab workouts.
Focus on Weight Training to Burn Fat
As we have discussed, losing fat is the key to seeing your midsection. In order to do this, you should focus on weight training.
Yes, weight training.
Weight training has a two fold benefit. First, you burn calories through the workout itself. Second, and perhaps even more important, your metabolism is elevated for up to 36 hours after your workout is completed. This means that you will burn more calories over the next day and a half even when doing nothing.
These free workouts will help you find a weight training routine to help you burn fat and find your abs.
This increase in metabolism from weight training occurs because your body is rushing to gather nutrients to repair your muscles following your weight lifting workout.
Intense weight training also depletes your carbohydrate (glycogen) stores. This causes your body to use fat as the primary energy source during the rest and recovery phase following your workout.
Finally, the more lean muscle you have, the faster your metabolism burns. Weight training, along with the proper nutrition, allows you to maintain and build muscle, ensuring that your metabolism is always in high gear.
On the other hand, cardio workouts that have a target heart rate between 65% and 85% of your maximum heart rate burn only the calories during the actual exercise period. Which leads us to...
Supplement Weight Training with Cardio to Burn Excess Calories
Do not forget that, at the end of the day, losing fat occurs when your body is in a state of calorie deficit. You can create this deficit by eating less, as we describe above, through your workout routines, or some combination of the two.
Cardio, or aerobic, exercise is a great way to burn extra calories after your weight workout. However, do not sacrifice your weight training to get in more cardio.
The best time to do your cardio work is in the morning on an empty stomach. After your body has been in a fasted state over night, your primary source of fuel will be fat.
If you find it difficult to workout in the morning, then the next best time to do aerobic exercise is immediately after weight lifting, when your glycogen stores are low. Again, this causes your body to use fat as its fuel source.
Conclusion: Dedication is the Key to 6 Pack Abs
These simple tips provide a framework to obtaining 6 pack abs. As you can see, it is not an easy task, and requires a great amount of dedication and hard work.With the proper nutrition, a solid weight training routine supplemented by cardio work, a good abdominal workout plan and an ample dose of dedication, you can burn fat and have 6 pack abs.
As you know, getting a set of ripped six pack abs involves a great diet, a great workout, and a great fat burning plan. More and more people are discovering these benefits of a complete ab getting system. If you're interested in experiencing these benefits personally, I recommend picking up this outstanding program: Truth About Abs.
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