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Ok, well I thought I had a decent knowledge on diet and exercise but until quite recently Ive become discouraged.

I wanted to get as lean as was healthy while being as toned as I could. Before working out I was 5'9 and 185. after about 2 months of my strict caloric deficit and 5 days of cardio a week, I've lost almost 20 pounds.

I'm happy but Ive been wanting to see abs, being how i work the shit out of them every day, even on non-workout days at home. I lost 20 pounds throughout my body but now I want to cut as much fat as possible off my stomach as possible. Any suggestions or criticisms of what I should do or have been doing wrong?

Sorry its long, i just wanted to be specific as possible since I don't post a pic.

Congrats first of all on losing 20 lbs. in 2 months. That is a great accomplishment. Without knowing what kind of build you are it is hard to judge whether at 165 you still need to lose weight. I would think maybe another 5-10 lbs. I am puzzled that you are not showing any results on your abs. I do about 300 crunches a day, and although I don't have a six-pack there is some definition. Perhaps genetically you are not susceptible to great ab definition (not everyone is).

I would recommend checking the RJ topics. They have excellent articles on exercising your abs. as well as increasing your metabolism (to ensure your weight continues to drop). Also try swimming as an alternate exercise if you can. It is great for developing all around muscle tone.

It's not 100% clear from your post, but you seem to be talking about spot reduction (working a particular area to reduce fat in that region). Human bodies simply don't work that way. Continue a solid cardio program and make sure you're eating right by either hiring a professional trainer and getting a nutritional consult, or just by doing some research.

Be careful about overworking abs, too; you can mess up your posture if you aren't also training the rest of your core.

Whereas you cant really spot reduce... the basics are.. you know.. burn more than you consume.. yadda yadda yadda..

i would focus on training your whole body versus just your abs. Focus on major compound movements... deadmifts, squats, push presses... studies have shown that resistance training ends up burning more abdominal fat than steady state cardio.

also try doing interval training with your cardio. good luck and congrats on the 20lbs

Hey you guys, thanks for the advice.

One thing that can cause problem areas for fat buildup and which may seem extra difficult to go away is checking one's hormone profile to make sure that they are in favorable proportions. If a man has too much of the female hormones like estrogen, progesterone, etc then he may have excessive fat around the chest and have what looks like female breasts. If this is the case this male may have gynecomastia. Here is a link to read more on that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia

Also other areas that are characteristic of hormone problems is fat around the lower waist, buttocks and thighs. These areas are the typical problematic areas on women who tend to develop fat in these areas.

So just some food for thought.

I know you're just going to say I'm being difficult, but doesn't that seem a little complicated for this guy's question?

GNR,

Are you lifting weights? Just doing cardio won't necessarily "tone" your muscles. You still need to build muscle to stoke your metabolism. How much are you eating? What are you eating?

Remember, abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. And it's totally unnecessary to do ab workouts everyday.

ok well instead of creating a new post ill just reply to my first with a question.

I heard your supposed to burn more calories than you consume a day. I feel unsure if thats true. I mean it has certainly worked because I lost almost 20 lbs like i said but this is how i did it:

I eat no more than 900 calories a day.

I burn about 800 at the gym doing 45 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes lifting light wieghts. So i figure throughout the entire day I'll burn calories doing other things.

I just wanna know, is that unhealthy? Will that weight be real easy weight to gain back? Thanks

900 Calories a day IS NOT healthy! You're only 19 years old you body is still growing, you need nutrients and food to keep developing. You problem may be not eating enough! Yes, that's right, not enough! You're body is in starvation mode right now....it doesn't know where it's next meal is coming from so it holds on to body fat so it has something for fuel. Yes it is true you will lose weight by burning more calories than you consume but you are most likely burning lean muscle more than you should vs. fat mass. Eat man, eat....but eat healthy calories not junk!