The Unsexy Secret to Lean Abs

I hate the phrase “stubborn fat.”

I know why we call it that. We all have some part of our body where the fat just doesn’t want to budge. But calling it “stubborn” is misleading. Your body fat isn’t a dog who refuses to walk on a leash when you want him to; it’s body fat. It’s not consciously choosing to disobey your orders to GTFO.

We cannot pick and choose the places from which our body will lose fat easiest or fastest. Our bodies hold fat in various places for various reasons, and while we can control our training programs, our nutrition, our outside activity levels, and our stress management, we cannot control where our body fat goes once we gain it.

Thus many of us find we have body parts that are last to lose fat. In some people, it’s the belly. In others, it’s the hips and thighs.

And when you get even leaner, you might find it to be even more specific. The triceps. The upper hamstrings. 

Or the place my body seems to lose from last:

The lower abs.

You might remember that I was on what I called Project Six-Pack last summer. I wanted to get lean abs and keep them for more than just a few weeks. I got pretty close to that by the end of last fall. I maintained until around February, when I started back on a fat loss track, and by the time quarantine started, I was ready to push the fat loss track a bit harder.

I’m now leaner than I was last fall at the end of Project Six-Pack. And guess what?

My lower abs are still holding fat.

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I could say something reassuring here about how that’s a common area of fat retention even in lean women, how I’m in my 40s and am probably going to naturally hold more fat there based on gender and age, how I can still look pretty dang jacked even with some lower ab fat.

But I don’t want to hear that ish. 

I want leaner lower abs, damn it.

And I can get them, despite all the excuses we hear about gender, age, hormones, etc. (And yes, I think gender, age, and hormones are, for most people, excuses for not doing the things listed below.) 

So here’s the plan. Here’s how I’m going to make this happen:

I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.

I train 4x a week, I do two metabolic conditioning workouts per week, and I get 4-5 short additional bursts of cardio per week via some 1-2 mile runs. I eat on-plan 99% of the time. I get 7.5 hours of sleep every single night. I drink about 100 ounces of water per day. I keep my alcohol intake very low. And I have a pretty positive mindset; I believe I can do better, be better, and perform better everyday.

There’s no special belly wrap to try, no detox tea, no specific food to load up on. No fat burner, no extra lower ab burner workout, no weird trick to try.

Just consistency—and patience.

I am already doing all the right things every day. I just have to keep doing them. 

I know that’s super unsexy. It’s not what most people want to hear. But the best way to get the results you want is to take responsibility and behave like you want results. 

Excuses don’t change you. Your actions do.

PS. I purposely chose pics for this where my abs are working hard so you can see what even lean-ish abs should look like while you’re lifting. Even lean people look like they have bellies when they are bracing their cores, squatting, or getting set to deadlift.