Can you diet your way to six-pack abs? A July 17, 2008 study titled, "Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet," published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported on the two-year effectiveness of these three types of diet for overweight people. It showed somewhat better results for low-carbohydrate diets, without the health risks that opponents of these diets claimed would exist.
So that's cool. Just go on a low-carb diet for a while and you'll soon have the body you want, right? Not exactly. Here's why dieting alone isn't enough to get the body you want.
First, dieting doesn't do anything to preserve your muscle mass. As you may know, once people reach thirty or so years of age, we tend to lose muscle mass. People typically lose 5-10 pounds of muscle per decade. And dieting doesn't change that. It might reduce the amount of fat over your shrinking muscles, but it won't maintain those muscles, much less build more muscle mass.
Now this latest study didn't specifically look at muscle mass (a search of the original report didn't even turn up a mention of muscle) so it's possible that one type of diet could have more of an effect on muscle mass than another. But going by the results of this study, there's no reason to believe that any type of diet will do anything special to prevent the gradual muscle loss that comes with age. It's going to be hard to build an awesome body when your youthful, sexy muscles are slowing fading away.
Second, the results of the diets are sad. The participants were overweight men and women, or people with Type 2 diabetes. They were placed on one of three types of diet, and given instructions and materials specific to the diet they were to follow. Over the course of two years, each group of people had eighteen 90-minute meetings with a dietician to help them stay on track. People who were having particular trouble received motivational phone calls as well.
The results of all this? Among the people who stayed in the program for two years, the average weight loss for the low-fat diet was 3.3 kg (7.27 lb), for the Mediterranean diet was 4.6 kg (10.14 lb), and for the low-carb diet was 5.5 kg (12.13 lb). There were also some positive changes in markers of health such as cholesterol levels.
This looks good, but think about it. The best performing group, with help from a nutritionist, lost just over 12 pounds in 2 years. One type of diet may be better than another, and for overweight people to lose weight safely is great. But is losing 12 pounds over 2 years, with a dietician's help and without any consideration for preserving your muscles, really going to get you the body you want?
A healthy diet is surely a good thing, and important to developing your abs and building the body you want. But as this study shows, dieting alone won't get you there. The secret to a super body and a great six pack is a plan that combines diet and exercise.
Ask any woman what is the most attractive part of a male body and most of the time, they will tell you it's the six pack abs meaning that your abdominal muscles showing up with beautiful definition. The abs is considered by many as a sexy muscle and is a symbol of a fit and healthy man. Women are instinctively drawn towards a man brimming with health and fitness because it is a primitive indication that the man is strong enough to protect her and her brood.
A rippling six pack abs is one such indication. So is it any wonder that in every gym, you will see men of all ages doing crunches, leg raisers and sit ups religiously in the hope of obtaining the much coveted killer abs? Unfortunately, most men will never get to see their abdominal muscle in its glorious splendor. Why? The following fitness tips will show you why.
You may not like what I am going to give to you straight in the face here. But I will give it to you anyway. So here it goes. Listen up carefully. You may do a zillion crunches a day, then another another million leg raisers, but as long as there is a layer of fat covering your tummy, you will never see your abs because it is covered by the blubber of fat. In fact, your waistline will become bigger because you are adding muscles underneath the fats! So instead of having a slim waistline and showing off your rippling abdominal muscle, you will have a bigger waistline and thicker love handles. Now get this straight. There is no such thing as spot reduction! Once the fats are off, your 6 pack abs will show. That I promise you. It is just that simple to display your abs. Lose fat! That's all.
Late night TV commercials or magazines has been telling you that you can have well defined abs by using this gadget or that electronic gizmo. Do you really believe it is really that simple? If it is so, then everyone will have that rippling washboard six pack abs in no time, won't they? Then why isn't that so? Because it doesn't work that way. To lose fat effectively and permanently for your abdominal muscles to show, you must include a mildly deficit calorie restriction diet, frequent cardio workouts and strength training with weights to build muscle so as to raise your metabolism in order to lose weight and burn fat naturally. Build muscles to burn fat permanently as muscles use up more calories from your food for energy. Lifting weights will also give you a well toned body and help your abs to show. Forget about any fad diets or popping slimming pills . These may work initially but in the long run, they are bound to fail.
So if you want to build an attractive and desirable abdominal muscle, start a mildly caloric deficit diet and put on your running shoes and in no time you can strut confidently displaying your abdominal muscles proudly. You won't ever want to put on your shirt again.
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