How Long Will It Take To See Your Six-Pack?

Find out how long will it take to see your six-pack with these tips and simple math.

The six-pack! Almost no one in the world does not want to have a six-pack, especially men. Showing off your shredded abs is arguably the epitome of being fit. If you want to do it, keep reading.

Source: Tim Mossholder / unsplash

How Long Will It Take To See Your Six-Pack?

Of course, the answer varies from person to person. It depends on how fit you already are, what is your nutrition regimen and how often you work out. The key thing when it comes to being able to show off your abs is body fat percentage.

If you have a low enough body fat percentage, your abs will show. That’s the underlying truth. Then the real question is how low of a body fat percentage you need to have to be able to showcase your six-pack.

• Men – 10-13 per cent
• Women – 14-20 per cent

Your end goal is to achieve that body fat percentage that will show off your abs. The best way to lower your weight and, subsequently, your body fat percentage is to be in a caloric deficit.

Now you need to do some calculations to understand how long will it take to see your six-pack. Grab a pen and paper.

First, you need to learn your current lean body mass, or how much you weigh without fat. Do this by taking your weight and multiplying by 1 minus your current body fat percentage. For example, someone who weighs 200 pounds and has a body fat percentage of 20%, would, in the end, have a lean body mass of 160 pounds.

Then you want to find out your goal lean body mass. When you begin cutting down on calories, you will lose lean body mass, unfortunately, and you want to set a goal of how much of that current lean body mass you want to retain. In the example above, say you want to retain 97% of your current lean body mass. So take your current lean body mass and multiply by that percentage to discover your goal lean body mass. In this example, the result would be 155 pounds of lean body mass.

Step 3: discover your goal weight. Take your goal lean body mass and divide by 1 minus your goal body fat percentage. What is the goal body fat percentage? As shown before in the article, for men, it varies from 10 to 13 per cent. In our example, we will use the number 13. So it is 155 (goal lean body mass) divided by 87 per cent. The result is around 178 pounds.

That last number is important because it is, approximately, the weight you need to be to show off your abs.

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

Now that you know how much you need to weigh to show off your abs, how long will it take to see your six-pack? The final calculation is simple. Your current weight, minus your goal weight. Divide that by your rate of weight loss per week.

The rate of weight loss you have per week depends on how much you are working out. Make sure to weigh yourself every day to have a feeling of how much you currently lose in the space of 7 days. Roughly, that is your rate of weight loss per week. If you don’t know your rate of weight loss or are just beginning this journey, a good rule of thumb is to lose 0.5 to 1 per cent of your current body weight per week.

So how long will it take to see your six-pack? The final result is approximately how long it should take.

Read More: How to Lose Belly Fat Effectively (Gone in 4 Steps)

Try BOXROX Pro.