Dear Davey,
I’m 20 years old and my body fat percentage is about 25. By eating healthy and getting enough sleep, how long will it take for me to get a six pack?
Sincerely,
Ahmed
Hey Ahmed,
By combining a healthy, balanced diet that supports your exercise routine with plenty of sleep, rest and recovery, you’ll certainly improve the way you look and feel.
Most trainers will recommend losing no more than 1 - 2 pounds per week. Although this recommendation may seem slow, remember that fast weight loss is often associated with drastic, unhealthy diet and exercise measures that are both dangerous and unsustainable. Unless you’re being medically supervised, the American Council on Exercise recommends 1 percent body fat loss per month.
Six packs become visible at very low body fat percentages - likely under the 10% range. To move from 25% to 10%, a very rough recommendation would be 15 months. However, everybody and every body is different and there are many factors involved. All of us experience setbacks and challenges - and sometimes we reach plateaus in our results.
While initial losses and body fat may be relatively easy, it’s very difficult to achieve body fat percentages in the lower ranges. You’ll need to exercise often, intensely and follow a strict diet. For a lot of people, this type of exercise and diet plan is unrealistic.
Rather than being motivated by the aesthetics of a six pack, let the other benefits of exercise drive your progress. While there’s no denying that a six pack looks great, we’re not all going to look like Ken dolls. And that’s okay. At the end of the day, a healthier lifestyle means that you’ll feel better, have increased energy, perform better on daily activities and so much more. Six pack or not, those are all great things worth reaching for.
Love,
Davey
