The first thing that I realized about getting serious in my quest for six pack abs was how overwhelmingly important diet is.
Here's something to think about...
Losing belly fat is about 80% diet and 20% exercise.
I was doing it all backwards, going overboard doing sit-ups crunches and other direct ab exercises which did increase my abdominal strength but gained little definition.
So doing endless sit ups or working with an ab machine daily is a waste of time Diet is the KEY to six pack abs! A random or out of control diet will ruin the results of any direct abdominal exercise you do, because you'll never get rid of that annoying layer of belly fat if you don't eat the right foods.
You can speed up your results lickity split in your quest for 6 pack abs by just sticking to some basic foods.
I committed to only eating things like turkey and other lean meats, beans, spinach, olive oil, whole grain breads ( only, no white bread), whey powder for extra protein, variety of fruits like raspberries, eggs, and for dairy fat free or low fat milk, yogurt and cheese.
I did this for a few solid weeks, with no deviation, and saw the fat melt off.
I wasn't starving myself either; you just have to be creative in your approach to meal planning...
For example...
when I craved for dessert I had a chocolate protein shake instead, maybe mixed with raspberries? Also, once a week I would cheat...
eat anything I wanted! Too much restriction is recipe for failure.
By cheating once a week I felt so much more in control of the other meals I ate during the week.
So why not get in the mindset first of combining diet 80%with abdominal exercises 20%.
I did and after many false starts made great progress.