If you already weigh 120, how do you get flat abs?

Question

I've altered my diet removing fast food, fried food, most sweets & junk food. I generally eat the following:
Yogurt, granola bars, fruit, eggs, salad, tuna or turkey sandwich, grilled cheese, chicken, stir-fry, boca burger, sometimes pasta, sides of broccoli or corn, fat-free or sugar free pudding,100 calorie snack packs, granola bars, or wheat thins.

Every now & then I may have something like potatoes or oven-baked fries, rice, or pad thai. I've increased my water intake & milk/dairy intake.

I do cardio 4+ times a week, atleast 45 minutes or until I burn 800 cals, whichever happens last. Alternating between the ArcTrainer/Elliptical & the treadmill, & occasionally the stationary bike. I do ab excercises atleast 4 times a week and I started taking HydroxyCut.

I've lost a couple of pounds but haven't seen any changes in my abs. I weigh 120 now so I don't know how much more I can or should lose.

What am I doing wrong? What else should I be doing?

Answer 1

If you want to firm up the abs, you have to add a workout that concentrates on your torso muscle groups. Do a vertical hang so that your arms are supported at shoulder height but extended as if on the arms of an armchair but with the rest of your body hanging down...some gyms have the set; some do not. Then, you lift your knees slowly all the way to your chest using your abs only buttocks only. Also, standard crunches, slowly up and slowly down, will help. The trick is, really do these reps smoothly, not jerkily, concentrating on the abs and your breathing.
Breathe in as the knees are coming up in the vertical hang, breathe out as you lower the legs back down. Breathe out as you rise to your crunch, breathe in as you lower back down...but not all the way down! Good luck.

Answer 2

I think first you should see your doctor instead of taking over the counter diet pills. Your doctor should give you advice and help on shedding those unwanted pounds, you want to stay healthy while trying to lose weight and a doctor would be the first step. May I also recommend a multi vitamin. Some of them contain chromium picolinate.
What can chromium picolinate do?
Chromium is essential for a healthy metabolism, especially as you get older. If you aren’t getting enough chromium, you’re likely to feel run down or have trouble keeping weight off.
Taking chromium picolinate daily can result in significant health benefits, like:Increased energy, improved weight control , and better carbohydrate metabolism. Good luck!!

Answer 3

You do a lot of fat burning exercise but you should really focus on muscle building exercises in the ab area. Sit-ups, leg lifts, and many, many yoga poses are excellent for building abdominal muscles.

Sit ups are boring... but I'll tell you tummy work out yoga poses.

One is to kneel on both knees, thighs perpendicular to your calves. Bend backwards and grab your heels--it may be hard at first but once you get it, stay there. You will feel it in your thighs and abs if you hold it for 30 seconds and then release. I usually do about 3 reps.

Next: Lay on your back flat on the ground, arms at your sides. Lift up your right leg and cycle it going forward 10 times, then backward 10 times. Do it with the left leg and then both together. Slower builds more muscle...you will feel it, trust me! Make circles with your legs together (STRAIGHT!!!) and also raise them and lower them slowly both individually and together. Keeping your legs straight is key.

Another is called the tigress pose. You get down on all fours and arch your back really high with your head tucked in. At the same time take one of your legs and try and get the knee to touch your nose. Hold that for 5 seconds and then extend the leg out and up (slowly) and bend your head back as far as you can get it and try and touch your head to your foot while keeping your palms flat. I do 10 times each on each leg slooowwwlly.

Good luck.

Answer 4

it will take time to see a difference in your abs; definition does not happen overnight. keep up with your schedule and do more core work. you don't need to lose weight; you just need to tone up and develop definition. you could be working your abs 5 days a week and ad weight if you can. invest in an ab lounge; that might make a difference as it incorporates all of your ab muscles at once.

Answer 5

You need to do ab specific exercises. Just losing weight will not tone your abs. Try doing crunches with some light weights.

Answer 6

I am also 120, and what I've heard and seen from people to get abs is to try to keep up your cardio, but add stomach exercises, like sit-ups, push-ups, and scrunches.

Answer 7

what you want to do is get your self a speed rope start off slow bringing your knees to tour chest the higher your knees the you will cut have fun with it then email me in three to four weeks

Answer 8

sounds like yr doing well. read tips and articles on weight loss that might help you more

Answer 9

your abs wont get better than they are. get over it. quit depriving yourself of food that tastes good. and give it a rest.

Answer 10

Try not obsessing about your weight.