How To Eat To Get a Six Pack (10 Step Guide)

Posted On November 19, 2020

As a personal trainer and nutritionist, the number one question I get asked is how to get a six-pack. Although working out is part of getting a six-pack, the real question people should be asking is HOW SHOULD I EAT TO GET A SIX PACK!

Eating Healthy & Working Out Will Not Get You a Six-Pack!

One of the biggest misconceptions people have is thinking that they can get a six-pack by just eating healthy and working out. Unfortunately, this isn’t true.

You have to learn how to eat and how to work out to get a six-pack.

Most people can lose a lot of weight by just eating healthy but very few people can get their body fat level low enough to reveal their abs and finally show off that six-pack. This is because the body desperately wants to hold on to any remaining body fat once you get down to a certain body fat level.

This is where most people get stuck, cutting their calories even further or adding more cardio to their routine, thinking that last layer of fat will burn off to finally reveal their abs. The problem is if you create too much of a calorie deficit, your body will stop using fat for fuel and start tapping into muscle.

This is why so many guys feel like they lose too much size when attempting to get a six-pack and give up.

The key is to find that sweet spot where you are getting just enough calories so your body doesn’t tap into any hard-earned muscle, but is still low enough to create a calorie deficit to burn off that last stubborn layer of belly fat.

But finding the right amount of calories you should be eating isn’t all you need to worry about. The quality of your foods, macronutrient ratios, protein intake, sugar intake, fat intake, and food timing all play a role in revealing that six-pack as well.

So what do you need to do?

Step 1: Find Out How Many Calories You Need to Maintain Your Weight

The easiest thing to do is use an online calculator to estimate the number of daily calories your body needs to maintain your current weight. Keep in mind that this is only going to give you a rough estimate of the number of calories you need in order to maintain your current weight. The calculator cannot account for things like body fat percentage.

Because muscle burns more calories than fat, a 185-pound guy with low body fat is going to burn more calories than a 185-pound guy with a high amount of body fat. The same goes for activity level. A UPS worker who is picking up and carrying heavy boxes all day will burn far more calories than a software developer who is sitting on the computer all day even though both workout regularly.

Even though these calculators aren’t perfect, it’s a great place to get a rough estimate to give you a starting point.

If you are working out regularly, make sure you account for it by choosing “Active” or “Very Active” depending on how often you are working out. I always recommend starting at a higher number because it gives you more room and time to cut calories down the line.

Step 2: Create a Calorie Deficit

Now that you have your estimated daily calorie requirement in order to maintain your weight, the next thing you need to do is create a calorie deficit so your body can begin to tap into body fat for fuel.

Since 1 lb of fat equals 3500 calories, if you create a 500 calorie a day deficit, you will lose 1 lb of fat per week (500 calories x’s 7 days). This is where keeping track of your calories is really important.

For calorie tracking, I recommend using an app like MyFitnessPal. It not only keeps track of your calories but also your carb, protein, fat, and sugar intake as well as some other vitamins and minerals.

I usually recommend starting with a maximum calorie deficit of 500 calories per day and seeing what type of results you get.

If you notice even a small reduction in body fat especially in your abdominal area, then you know you’re close to where you want to be.

Keep in mind, that last layer of belly fat wants to hold on for dear life. The only way to get rid of it is to slowly chip away at it.

Make Small Adjustments

If you don’t see any visible changes in a reduction of body fat after 2 weeks, then try reducing your calories by 250 calories every 2 weeks.

The reason I recommend such small decreases is because it is very easy to reduce your calories too low to the point where your body will just hold on to fat and even start burning into muscle.

Carefully tracking your calories is really the only way to know if what you’re doing is working and how to make adjustments if you’re not getting the results you want.

Figuring out exactly how many calories you need to be eating to lose that last layer of belly fat without burning into any hard-earned muscle will take some trial and error.

Step 3: Clean Up Your Diet

Most people know that unhealthy foods are high in calories which makes weight loss difficult, but what most people don’t know is that unhealthy food can also mess with your hormones, which can cause a decrease in your natural testosterone levels leading to muscle loss and fat gain.

If you really want to get a six-pack, you have cut out (at least until you reveal your abs) the following:

• Soda
• Calorie containing drinks (with the exception of protein shakes)
• Alcohol
• Fast Food
• Junk Food – Chips, candy, sweets, etc.
• Processed foods
• High sugar foods
• High fat foods

The easiest way to avoid unhealthy food is to stick to whole foods – foods that are in closest form to how they are found in nature.  Think fruits, vegetables, and natural protein sources.

Not sure if something is healthy? Check the ingredients. If there is a long list of ingredients that you can’t even pronounce, stay away.

Keep in mind, it is very difficult to achieve a six-pack, so you’ll have to make some sacrifices until you finally reveal those abs. The good news is, it is much easier to maintain a six-pack then it is to get one.

Maintaining a six-pack can be done with a flexible diet that allows for pizza, a burger, or even a few beers on the weekends so you don’t have to worry about giving up your favorite foods and drinks forever.

Step 4: Make Protein the Priority

Of all the macronutrients, protein is the most important one to prevent muscle loss while being in a calorie deficit. Aim for eating 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight depending on how much of a calorie deficit you are creating.

As a rule of thumb, the lower you drop your calories, the higher your protein intake should be to try and prevent any muscle loss.

Do your best to spread your protein intake evenly across every meal. The best sources of protein are chicken, fish, seafood, turkey, eggs, lean meat, and quality protein powders.

Step 5: Eat the Right Kind of Carbs

The majority of your carbs should come from vegetables and moderate portions of whole grains like oatmeal, 100% whole wheat bread, and brown rice.

Eat fruit in moderation. Try sticking to half a cup or half a piece of fruit per meal and limiting overall fruit intake to 3 meals a day.

Load up on spinach and other leafy greens, cauliflower, broccoli and other vegetables which are all nutrient dense but very low in calories.

Step 6: Watch Your Fat Intake

Avoid eating foods high in fat. Although you need healthy fats, eating too much can slow down fat loss. As a general guideline, try to stay around 10-15 grams of fat per meal.

Keep in mind, most foods already have some fats in them so you probably do not need to add any additional fats to your meal. If you need to add some healthy fats, use them in moderation.

Some healthy fat sources are avocados, extra virgin olive oil, almonds and other nuts, and chia seeds.

Step 7: Watch Your Sugar Intake

Avoid eating foods high in sugar, especially added sugar. If you are eating mostly whole foods, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Be especially careful of added sugars in some of the foods you eat like oatmeal, cereals, bread, protein bars, and even some protein powders.

Even though fruit doesn’t have any added sugars, certain fruits like bananas, mangos, pears, watermelon, grapes, and cherries all are high in naturally occurring sugars and should be consumed in moderation.

Step 8: Know Your Macronutrient Ratios

Macronutrient ratio is the ratio between carbs, protein, and fats in your diet.

A 45/35/25 ratio means 45% of your calories are coming from carbs, 35% from protein, and 25% from fats. Although your macronutrient ratio won’t help you reveal your six-pack if you are not in a calorie deficit, it can make a difference when trying to lose that last layer of belly fat.

It’s important to remember that there is no magic ratio. Everyone responds differently to different ratios. I have seen clients who could get very lean with a ratio as high as 50% carbs while others would struggle at anything above 40%.

Find the Right Macronutrient Ratio for You

You will also probably have to adjust your macronutrient ratios depending on what your goal is and how far along you are in the process of reaching it.

Many of my clients would lose a significant amount of weight using the popular 40/30/30 ratio, but could only get lean enough to get a flat stomach and maybe the outline of a 4-pack, but not lean enough to reveal their six-pack. Once we dropped their fat down and protein up, they were finally able to shed that last stubborn layer of belly fat.

Remember, the lower you go in calories, the higher you want your protein intake in order to preserve muscle.

This means being around 35% protein and maybe even as high as 40% if you have significantly dropped your calories from your maintenance levels.

As for fats, start a little higher and drop when you see results slow down. I normally recommend starting at 30% and decreasing that by 5% when you stop seeing results. The absolute lowest your fat intake should be is 20%.

Carbs basically fills out the rest.

Keep in mind, once you reach your goal you will want to switch to your new maintenance calorie level (based on your new weight). You can then go back to a higher carb and higher fat ratio like the 40/30/30 or whatever ratio allows you to maintain your results.

Step 9: Food Timing

You have probably heard that eating 5-6 meals per day every 2-3 hours is the key to keeping your metabolism up in order to lose weight.

This theory actually comes from the world of bodybuilding and is very effective when trying to eat as many calories as possible to pack on muscle, but if your goal is fat loss, you need to allow your body enough time in between meals to tap into your stored body fat.

If you are constantly supplying your body with a fuel source (food) it has no reason to tap into its savings supply (fat).

This is why I recommend trying to space your meals at the very least 3 hours apart. Eating every 3 to 5 hours seems to be the sweet spot for most people.

I don’t recommend going past 5 hours between eating, since waiting too long can lead to cravings and bad eating decisions. If your meals are spread too far apart, it also means you have to eat a higher number of calories in one sitting to make sure you are getting enough total calories per day to maintain muscle. This can be very challenging, especially when you are eating healthy low calorie foods.

Step 10: Test. Analyze. Adjust. Repeat.

As I mentioned earlier, there is no universal formula to get a six-pack, but there are a number of proven methods that you can try. 

But there are a number of proven methods that you can try that may help you to finally get that six-pack.

Test

The key is testing different methods, one at a time, to see what works for you. I usually recommend trying something new for at least 2 weeks.

Analyze

After 2 weeks, you should be able to tell how effective the change was by your results. If you notice your six-pack is slowly but surely starting to be visible, don’t change anything until whatever you are doing stops working. If you don’t notice any changes or your results have slowed down, it’s time to make another change.

Adjust

One of the reasons I recommend only making one change at a time is so you don’t run out of things you can do. This allows you room to make more adjustments if necessary.

If you do everything at once, you will eventually get to the point where there’s nothing more you can do. This is when people get stuck and plateau.

They already cut their calories as low as possible, they changed their macronutrient ratios, they are working out 7 days a week doing HIIT and hours of cardio but still haven’t reached their goal. Now where do they go from here?

Repeat

Test one thing at a time, analyze the results, make another small adjustment, and repeat the process. It may not be easy, but if you patiently follow these steps, you can finally get that six-pack.