Top 6 diet tips for building & maintaining six-pack abs
Your complete guide to getting sustainably lean at any age.
Earning a six–pack can be brutal and often unsustainable. Just try spending a couple years meticulously tracking your calories while being hungry all the time. It’s not fun!
As a busy family man, I’m not up for that anymore. Don’t get me wrong, counting calories is extremely effective. And I use it often as a coach, especially with my younger, childless clients. But even for them, sooner or later, they need to transition to a more sustainable and less analytical way of eating.
Fortunately, a sustainable six-pack is achievable. It’s hard and requires both consistency and sacrifice, but it can be done. And in this article, I’ll show you how.
But before we launch into the specific tools and tactics, let’s get really clear on the goal. Guys generally need to get down below 15% body fat to get visible abs when flexing moderately. At that point abs are blurry, especially in the evening or in bad light, but most people would say you have abs when you’re moderately flexed. For a full six-pack, you probably need to get down to 10-12%, which is right on the edge of sustainability for most regular guys.
For context, bodybuilders and fitness influencers often “hang out” at 7-10% body fat and temporarily dip down to 4-7% for their photo shoots and shows. They look shredded, but it comes at a steep price. Dieting down that low can sabotage your sleep, recovery and athletic performance. Your testosterone and other sex hormones can drop. And it requires meticulous tracking of your macros. Moreover, most have some combination of a naturally low appetite, an ab-friendly fat distribution, thick ab muscles, naturally high metabolism or performance enhancing drugs. It’s not a game that everyone can play.
So, for this article, I’m going to show you my top 6 diet tips for getting and maintaining a full six-pack (10-12% BF) . These aren’t easy. They aren’t a short cut. And unless you’re genetically gifted or counting calories, they are non-negotiable. If you’re middle aged (like me), you’ll need to practice all 6 to achieve a full six-pack.
For reference, the picture to the right is me at 42 years old and around 11-12% body fat. The lighting is flattering. The picture is a selfie taken in the morning after dropping my daughter off at school. And yes, I’m flexing.
Here are links to the 6 practices:
1. Eat More Food
Your six-pack doesn’t care how much food you eat. Whether you eat a huge meal or a tiny meal doesn’t make any difference. In fact, most of my meals are actually rather large. So much so that I have a reputation among my friends and family of eating embarrassingly large meals.
As regards abs, what actually matters is the amount of energy you consume. How many calories does the meal have? That’s what matters, and this simple observation is a game changer for two reasons.
First, the energy density of food varies enormously. Some foods contain a ton of energy within a small space while other foods contain relatively little energy in the same space. I like to use the example of strawberries and Hershey’s Kisses. A Hershey’s Kiss has 23 calories while a medium sized strawberry has 4 calories. The strawberry is a bit bigger but contains far less energy. Thus, if my friend eats five Hershey’s Kisses, I can feast on 25 strawberries and still eat less energy. I get to eat my embarrassingly large meals and still walk away for fewer calories.
Second, imagine you have a choice between two meals. Both meals have the exact same number of calories, protein, fat, carbs etc. The only difference is that one meal fills a large plate, while the other meal fills half of a plate. Which meal is likely to fill you up best? Of course, the bigger meal is going to leave you feeling fuller for longer than the smaller meal. This is not only intuitively obvious, it's backed by scientific studies. Food takes up space in your stomach, and as your stomach fills you become less hungry.
The goal then is to reduce the caloric density of your diet. You eat the same quantity of food, but far less energy. This is scientifically proven to reduce your appetite and help you get leaner.
How to get started, today!
Beginners: If you’re just getting started on the road to a six-pack, then here’s a great initial goal. Cut out junk food. Junk foods are energy bombs, and unless you’re blessed with incredible genes, you can’t square them with a six-pack. Sorry, but it’s either Snickers, McDonalds and donuts or a six-pack.
No judgment from me either way! Snickers are arguably superior to abs!. But if you can manage a junk free diet, it’s a game changer. In fact, a 2019 study found that cutting out junk food caused people to consume 500 fewer calories per day due to a lack of hunger. Like me, they were still eating big meals, but they were eating 500 fewer calories–almost enough to lose a pound of fat per week. Now, this isn’t enough to get you down to a six-pack. Not all by itself; but it’s a great start!
If you are just getting started on your journey to a six pack, be sure to check out my article, What are the healthiest ways to get and stay lean?
Experts: if you want to take this all the way, you’ll need to become a diet ninja and analyze the caloric density of your food. How many calories does 100 grams of your diet contain on average? How many calories does 100 grams of your next meal have? The less energy the better.
First, look through your current diet. Are there some calorie dense foods that aren’t serving your goals? Are there some opportunities to make a few strategic swaps? Here are a few examples.
Switch cheddar cheese (402kcal/100g) for feta cheese (262kcal/100g)
Switch ground beef (30% fat) (332kcal/100g) for top sirloin steak (255kcal/100g)
Switch white rice (130kcal/100g) for cauliflower rice (25kcal/100g)
Switch pasta (130kcal/100g) for shirataki noodles (15kcal/100g)
Switch regular eggs for egg whites (I often eat a mix of whole eggs and egg whites)
Second, make it a practice of eating some low calorie “filler food” at most meals. Now you don’t need to live off of egg whites and cauliflower. And you don’t want to restrict your diet to the point where it becomes unhealthy and bizarre. Generally around 75% of my diet by volume consists of low calorie fruits, veggies and lean protein. If you can manage that, you’re crushing this habit.
2. Go a Quarter Carnivore
Ok, you’ve probably heard it before: protein is very satiating, but I want to make it clear just how important it is. For instance, in one study, overweight women ate 441 fewer calories per day by moving from a low protein to a high protein diet.
Take a moment and let that sink in. By increasing their protein, they spontaneously ate 441 fewer calories per day. Enough to lose almost a pound of fat per week.
Now before you go full carnivore it’s worth noting there’s a pretty hard upper limit. It seems that once your body is getting enough protein, more protein isn’t any more satiating than carbs or fats. In fact, recent research suggests that the benefits seem to top out at around 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. You can eat more than that, but as you’ll see below, there are arguably better, healthier ways to complete your meal.
Note: plant-based sources of protein are another great option, but generally require a more nuanced approach to optimize for hypertrophy and recovery.
How to get started, today!
Beginners: Go ¼ carnivore! If you’re just getting started, aim to fill about a quarter of your plate with lean protein. This will average out to a bit over 1.8 g/kg/day, ensuring you get the full satiating effect.
Experts: I recommend a minimum of 1.8 g/kg/day, following the research and guidelines of Menno Henselmans. For instance, someone weighing 68 kg should target about 123 grams of protein daily (68 kg x 1.8 = 122.4). Try to divide your total daily protein roughly evenly across the meals of the day. Typically, after a few months of tracking, you can just eyeball it.
If you’d like to dive deeper into the nuances of protein, check out my blog, Optimizing Protein Intake: Build Muscle, Lose Fat, Boost Recovery
3. Go Half Vegan
Unhealthy diets are by definition unsustainable. And no one wants to look like a Greek god, but feel like a broken down old man. Fortunately, eating LOADS of low calorie fruits and veggies can help solve both problems by helping you lean out while making your diet healthy. Here’s why.
First, for all the reasons above, meals containing loads of low calorie fruits and veggies are going to dramatically reduce the energy density of your diet. This is one reason you don’t want to eat too much protein. Even a lean protein like skinless chicken breast is 165 calories/100 grams. Meanwhile, 100 grams of cauliflower rice is 40 calories.
Second, fruits and veggies will significantly boost your fiber intake. Fiber is the part of plants that humans can’t digest. This means fiber takes a long time to leave our stomachs, and then it slowly makes its way through our digestive tract. As a result, after a high fiber meal, you feel fuller for longer.
How much does this matter? Well, a 2001 review of the relevant published data found that adding 10 grams of fiber per day reduces your appetite enough to cause a 10% reduction in energy intake. Now this effect is separate from energy density, so it’s accumulative. You want to eat both a high fiber diet and a low energy density diet. Eating loads of low calorie fruits and veggies achieves both.
Third, diets high in fruits, veggies and fiber are absurdly healthy. Studies have shown that eating 800 grams of fruits and veggies a day is associated with a 31% reduction in all-cause mortality, while a high fiber diet lowers your risk of all-cause mortality by 23%. If you want to be that shredded old guy at the beach, who can play like a kid with the grandkids, this is the path.
How to get started, today!
Go half vegan! A great goal is to cover about half of your plate with low calorie fruits and veggies. 3 normal plates filled halfway with fruit and veggies corresponds to around 800 grams (1.76 pounds) per day. This is amazing for your health and longevity and contains around 500 calories and 30 grams of fiber. You can of course go full vegan, but the research cited above, suggests that the health and longevity benefits top out at around 800 grams per day.
To kick start your new habit, here are some great super low-calorie options.
Veggies under 25 calories per 100 grams: pickles, cucumber, cabbage, lettuce, asparagus, turnip, spinach, summer squash, celery, radishes, cauliflower, swish chard, pumpkin, arugula
Fruit under 45 calories per 100 grams: peaches, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, blackberries, papaya, grapefruit
What about starchy veggies? Although awesome, a cup of starchy veggies (think potatoes, peas, corn etc) has about three times as many calories as a cup of non-starchy veggies (green leafy veggies, broccoli, cucumber etc.). So to maximize your results, I recommend making non-starchy low calorie veggies the focus of this skill while you’re trying to lose fat.
Now when I’m training for an Ironman or similar event, I eat a LOT of starchy veggies. Similarly, when I’m maintaining my body weight, I’m much more relaxed and eat more starchy veggies as a part of my veggie and fruit goal.
If you’d like to dive deeper into the nuances of fruit and veggie intake, check out my blog, Fruits and Veggies: Live Longer, Get Leaner, Perform Better
4. Don’t Drink Your Calories
Consuming energy dense beverages is six-pack suicide. When you drink one of those super yummy coffee shop abominations, the energy skips digestion and converts straight into ab fat.
OK, that’s not the least bit scientific. But drinking a Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino really is an act of six-pack suicide. Let me show you why, and what you can do instead.
First, calorie dense beverages violate tip #1 above. For instance a 16 oz Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino has 410 calories. You can eat nearly a plate and a half of fruit and veggies for the same number of calories. Even just a 16 oz coke has 192 calories. You could eat 48 strawberries instead!
Second, studies suggest that drinks in general are lower satiety than food. Calories from beverages do little or nothing for your hunger. They go right through you. And believe me, if you get down to six-pack lean you are going to be hungry. Like, REALLY hungry. Body fat produces a hormone called Leptin. When Leptin levels are high (because body fat levels are high), hunger is low. People with a six-pack don’t produce as much Leptin, so they’re hungry. Really. Hungry.
How to get started, today!
Here’s what you can do instead: drink zero calorie or at least extremely low-calorie drinks. I used to drink a lot of soda. Then I switched to diet soda. Then I gave up all soda for over a decade. But I’ve had to admit that the science really argues against this.
First, beverages like Pepsi Max and Coke Zero are great for weight loss and diet adherence. Not only do they satisfy your sweet tooth, but the carbonation can be extra filling. In fact, they’re better than water for weight loss.
A 2008 study compared the results of drinking at least two glasses of water per day versus drinking at least two glasses of artificially sweetened beverage per day. Both groups lost weight, but the artificially sweetened beverage group lost 1.4 additional kilos after one year.
Now of course you want to drink plenty of water. But a diet soda with lunch and/or midafternoon is a great way to manage your appetite and enjoy something sweet.
Second, the research has convinced me that there are no health risks. For instance, a 2022 study looked at data spanning two decades and found no connection between any artificial sweetener and cancer risk. I drink 1-2 diet sodas a day, and I’ve found it greatly improves my diet adherence and enjoyment. If you want to take a deeper dive into the science check out Layne Norton or Mike Isreatel.
What’s a good goal? Here again, you can think of this as a tool and apply as needed. You don’t need to go to extremes even for that six-pack. I drink coffee with cream in the mornings, and I occasionally enjoy a glass or two of red wine with dinner. But I pay for this by having to be stricter in other areas of my diet and training.
5. Don’t Eat if You Aren’t Hungry
While we’re on the topic of diet suicide, let’s talk about eating when you aren’t hungry. If you eat a Snickers because you're bored or a tub of ice cream because you're sad or a bag of chips because you're anxious, you can kiss that six-pack goodbye. The days of self-soothing with food are over.
What's worse is that even scheduled meals can demolish your diet. If you find yourself eating lunch even though you aren’t really hungry, your diet needs a major overhaul.
As I’ve written above, getting six-pack lean is going to increase your hunger. A Lot! Plummeting leptin levels, means skyrocketing hunger. So if you find yourself eating calories when you aren’t hungry, you are going to starve at some other portion of the day to make up the difference.
Most people with average genes and goals of a six-pack need to be strategic, using their calories wisely to minimize hunger. If you can only eat 2300 calories per day, and you eat 1500 of them before 2 pm, even though you were never really all that hungry, you’re going to suffer come dinner time.
Long story short, there’s no way around it. Don’t eat if you aren’t hungry.
How to get started, today!
This practice has two components. First, only eat if you’re physically hungry. To do this you need to pay attention to your hunger signals and notice the motives behind eating.
Are you physically hungry? Physical hunger typically involves a growling stomach, an empty feeling in your stomach or hunger pangs. It can also feel like a loss of focus, lightheadedness or low energy.
Do you want to eat because you’re bored, anxious, stressed, depressed etc.? Food tastes good, and it comforts us. So when we feel something negative, eating can help us cope with those feelings.
Are you eating because it’s time to eat? Most meals are scheduled, so it’s common to eat merely because it’s that time, rather than because you’re hungry.
To kill this practice, you generally want to wait until you're hungry to eat. On a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is not hungry and 10 is the hungriest you’ve ever been) the goal is to wait until you’re a level 7 hungry before eating. You should be experiencing some clear signs of physical hunger, but you shouldn’t be desperate or ravenous or anything like that. Think of it as comfortably uncomfortable.
Personally, I’ve noticed that I’m less hungry in the morning, and therefore it’s proven useful to save my biggest meal for dinner. In other words, if lunch rolls around and you aren’t hungry, eat a later lunch or eat a smaller breakfast next time.
Second, stop eating when you’re no longer hungry. Here, you want to pay attention to your satiety signals and avoid overeating. Most people will find that eating to roughly 80% full promotes fat loss and helps maintain a lean healthy physique. People with a naturally low appetite may need to eat more. Here’s what that might feel like.
100% full: you feel uncomfortable and are approaching Thanksgiving levels of full.
90% full: you feel comfortable, but you wouldn’t want to move around too much.
80% full: you feel energized and like going for a walk. You could eat more (perhaps some dessert), but you don’t have to.
70% full: you’re no longer hungry but you’re not exactly satisfied.
60% full: you’re definitely unsatisfied and unhappy to stop eating.
I can offer two big tips for this skill. First, avoid taking a huge portion of food. Research strongly suggests that people eat way more food, whenever more food is put in front of them. Second, if you eat too fast, you can sometimes blow right through to overeating without noticing. Thus, it can help to pause eating for a few moments around 75% of the way through the meal. This will give you a chance to notice your own fullness cues and avoid unconsciously overeating.
If you want to learn more about these kinds of dieting skills check out my article, 10 ways to manage your hunger for year-round visible abs
6. Avoid Hyperpalatable “Trigger” Food
When you taste something sweet, salty or savory, you receive a little hit of dopamine encouraging you to do it again. This process kept our distant ancestors motivated to track down all the nutrients they needed to survive.
Us modern humans face a different food environment. There’s a whole scientific discipline devoted to understanding the perception of taste (neurogastronomy), and an army of food engineers diligently working to create “love at first bite” moments. First, the tastes are refined and intensified. Then they’re put into the perfect blend of flavors and texture for a big fat dopamine hit. For this reason, we crave such foods and find it’s incredibly hard to eat them in moderation.
Now, not everyone responds to the same foods the same way. The taste combination that hits my dopamine system the hardest won’t necessarily be the same as yours. But it doesn’t matter. The solution will be the same either way. Cut out or at least sharply cut back on hyper palatable foods. It makes it way easier to avoid overeating. It makes it way easier to avoid using food to self-sooth. And hyperpalatable foods are almost always energy bombs that blow your diet “at first bite”.
How to get started, today!
First, reframe. Trigger foods are like your Tik Tok feed. They are a bottomless pursuit of meaningless dopamine. Junk foods lack any nuance or imagination. No one goes to a 5 star restaurant for junk food. Imagine for a moment your favorite junk food. How does it actually compare to perfectly cooked steak? Ultimately, if you give up your trigger foods, all you're missing out on is another dopamine hit. And in our modern world the last thing anyone needs is another meaningless, trivial source of easy dopamine.
Second, just say no. Research has demonstrated through FMRI and other diet studies that eating less junk food reduces your cravings. If you can give up your trigger foods, you won’t miss them for long with most research suggesting it takes no more than 6 months. I don’t miss eating junk food.
If you’d like more help with this, check out my articles:
4 Compelling Reasons to Ditch Junk Food for a Healthier, Leaner You
Free yourself from junk food: a complete guide for adventure-lovers
Final Thoughts
I really enjoy my diet. I love having abs. And I certainly don’t miss junk food or overeating. From my perspective, making the shift is tough, but it’s totally worth it. Which one of these tips resonates most? What are three of the easiest ways to start implementing it in your own life, today? Pick one and get after it!
