Ever feel like giving up on getting abs? LOL

[Joachim]

I hear about doods eating pasta for dinner or lunch is pasta good for you?

yes, carbs are very good for you, you need a lot of them.

[Spartacus Sully]

pics or it didnt happen, we want shirtless pictures of calzaghe.

ummmm i didnt take any but give me 4 weeks maybe less and ill be back to where i was and ill take some then.

[Ell]

Tito I feel your pain. About a year and a half ago I tried my hardest for abs and low body fat but inevitably lost interest after not seeing much progression. About 3 months ago I tried again and with more knowledge and wisdom I was able to get close to the results I wanted (although not quite reach my ultimate goal yet). I'll take you through most of the principles I've used in order to help shed the excess body fat.

More meals I would say is a must, this is an old Bodybuilding trick that has been used for years in order to speed up metabolism and help shed fat quicker. I'd say try to eat every 2-3 hours depending on how hungry you are and your time constraints (planning meals can often be ball ache with a busy schedule). A good analogy for this principle is that of a fire. If you think of your stomach as being a fire and the wood for the fire being your food. If you were to throw small amounts of wood on a regular basis on the fire, it would burn fast with a big flame burning all the fuel quickly and efficiently (smaller meals more often) but if you were to throw a big log on the fire the flame wouldn't be large, the fire wouldn't burn quickly and it would take a long time for the log to eventually burn.

Drink plenty of water, keep your body hydrated as your bodys ability to breakdown fat is much greater than if you were dehyrdated.

Never eat until you're full and try never to be too hungry. You don't want to starve your body, more keep it ticking over.

Try to eat more wholemeal carbs as opposed white carbs, and as much fruit and vegetables as possible. These foods are great due to there low glycemic index and also there low caloric value. The glycemic index is how long it takes your stomach to break down the carbs, foods with low glycemic index take longer to break down so will stop you feeling as hungry. Try to stay away from cheeses and dough or pastry based foods.

The following day is a typic dail meal wise for me:

Breakfast - 1 weetabix, half a portion of oatmeal, mixed with fruit (usually banana, blueberries or rasberries) with skimmed 0.1% fat milk or low fat soya milk (soya milk less calories than the milk) around 200-300 calories

Early Lunch - Portion of wholegrain basmati ric with mixed veg (usually a mixture of carrots, peas, brocoli, swede, onions all depends on what I've bought in) with a tin of tuna (27g of protein and low in fat) and also with a portion of salad. This meal is usually between 300-400 calories.

Late Lunch/Early Dinner - Chicken with salad no dressing. I usually make up a big salad at the start of the week to save preperation time. In my salads I use a whole iceberg lettuce, two sweet peppers, half an onion, cherry tomatoes, carrot, cucumber and celery. This meal is usually around 250-400 calories depending on portion size. The chicken provides around another 25g of protein.

Evening Meal - Fruit salad, this varies massively depending on what fruit I've bought and how much money I have available to spend. Some fruit is expensive. Usually a mixture of banana, apples, oranges and pears. This is usually about 250-400 calories.

Last Meal - Double does of why protein roughly around 200 calories and provides the rest of my protein for the day.

I usually only have time to prepare 5 meals and tend to snack inbetween meals, good snacks include fruit or nuts or peanut butter on rye bread. Don't be scared to eat you're not an anorexic teenage girl. Try not to eat carbs late at night as if you don't burn them they'll be stored as fats. Also when working out do your cardio after your weights as you will of burned out your glycogen stores so you will be burning fat in order to fuel your cardio. I hope this helps, stick at it man and I'm sure you'll get the results you want. Eat healthy and make sure you get your protein.

[Spartacus Sully]

More meals I would say is a must, this is an old Bodybuilding trick that has been used for years in order to speed up metabolism and help shed fat quicker. I'd say try to eat every 2-3 hours depending on how hungry you are and your time constraints (planning meals can often be ball ache with a busy schedule). A good analogy for this principle is that of a fire. If you think of your stomach as being a fire and the wood for the fire being your food. If you were to throw small amounts of wood on a regular basis on the fire, it would burn fast with a big flame burning all the fuel quickly and efficiently (smaller meals more often) but if you were to throw a big log on the fire the flame wouldn't be large, the fire wouldn't burn quickly and it would take a long time for the log to eventually burn.

not quite.

the big log takes longer because there is less surface area and less fuel accessible at one time where as every one i know chews their food so the diffrence between a 200 calorie meal and a 1500 calorie meal is not a matter of surface area like in your comparison.

in fact both meals would only take a half hour to an hour to be digested and broken down in your stomach and 2-3 hours before your metabolism goes back to normal which is the important part. if you have a 1500 calorie meal and your metabolism is only running over time breaking it down for 3 hours and you eat every 6 hours thats 3 hours your metabolism isnt running at peak performance where as if you have 3 200 calorie meals over 6 hours your metabolisim is allways running at peak performance.

[BrooklynBomber]

I never had that problem, and would like to add that while diet is the most important part in getting my bodyfat to go down to acceptable 8% I noticed that the best way to strip your body of fat was not cardio or direct ab work but rather multijointed exercises like power cleans(or any other olympic lift exercises), squats(especially front squats), deadlifts and kettlebell work

[Flows]

there under my 8 tires somewhere,

[HyperUppercut]

I think that would fall under being metro.

But six packs are overrated, IMO as far the chicks go. My shoulders, arms, chest, lats have gotten more attention than my abs.

if being "metro" means the chance to drop it off in alot more girls drawers than whats so bad about being one?

[HyperUppercut]

diet diet diet diet, you got to change your matbolism. eat 6 small meals a day for a month that will change your matbolism once that is done continue with 6healthy meals. did i say diet its all about the diet.

this is COMPLETELY false.

[DebinD]

I'm working on being a personal trainer and am unoffically one now, and I have no personal experience with your particular problem other than what's been said -except you might want to try some Isometric Exercises -plank and all the variations. It won't help you build -because it sounds like you done tons of that, but it does help define what's there.

I can't post links yet -but google "isometric Exercises for stomach" or isometric Exercises for abs" - you can work it inbetween sets of more traditional ab exercises.

[VoN Brawn]

this is COMPLETELY false.

No - its not. Your metabolism changes every hour.