New Abs Diet
The New Abs Diet was created by David Zinczenko – the editor for fitness magazine “Men’s Health”. The book is written in a style aimed at men, but the principles can be applied to anyone.
For many years most athletes, fitness models, and bodybuilders have applied the same basic fundamentals to their diet. Principles like eating often (5-6 times per day), building muscle, eating lean proteins, and aiming to eat whole unrefined carbs.
Sadly many dieters have failed to take note of these techniques, often believing that calorie restriction is the only way to lose weight.
New Abs Diet Useful Information
Hidden under the glossy marketing-speak in The New Abs Diet, you will find sensible and workable ideas for fat loss. The principles are not new, but simply repackaged for a different market. In fact the program is quite similar to Body For Life.
Whilst the book is called “The New Abs Diet” – having visible abdominal muscles is about attaining very low levels of fat – rather than any magic diet, special exercise, or special piece of equipment. Attaining defined abs is difficult and challenging – but it sells, and many men now consider visible abs to be the pinnacle of a good body. However, the New Abs Diet doesn’t eliminate fat completely from the diet but focuses on using limited healthy fats in the diet.
The 12 Power Foods
The New Abs Diet contains a 7 day meal plan, made up of 12 ‘power foods’, along with recipes. One meal per week is designated as a ‘cheat’ meal – where you eat anything you want. The book advises avoiding foods like fatty meats, processed/refined carbs, high-sugar foods.
| The New Abs Diet 12 Power Foods |
| 1. Almonds and Other Nuts eaten with skins intact. |
| 2. Beans and Other Legumes |
| 3. Spinach and Other Green Vegetables |
| 4. Dairy: Fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese |
| 5. Instant Oatmeal: Unsweetened, unflavored |
| 6. Eggs |
| 7. Turkey and other lean meats. Lean steak, chicken, fish |
| 8. Peanut Butter – All-natural, sugar-free. |
| 9. Olive Oil |
| 10. Whole-Grain Breads and Cereals |
| 11. Extra-Protein Powder(Whey) |
| 12. Raspberries and Other Berries |
If you are wondering why almonds, spinach, raspberries, and turkey were singled out — nothing scientific — it just helps to make a catchy acronym – absdietpower !
Cardio and Weights
Essential to The New Abs Diet program is strength and interval training. This is based on the premise that building muscle increases metabolism which will assist in burning fat.
See a sample of the abs diet circuit training workout.
Do You Get A Flat Tummy?
This is what The New Abs Diet author says in response to spot reducing:
“…you can’t spot reduce per se. That’s a myth. But if people lose weight – particularly if they’re doing some moderate exercise at the same time – they’ll lower their body fat and will likely notice that loss in their bellies since that’s where most of the fat lives…”
Unfortunately this isn’t quite true. Women, in particular, carry most of their fat deposits around the thighs and hips. Also, belly fat can quite often be the last place that fat disappears from. However the book does is aimed at men which may explain the authors comments.
The New Abs Diet also contains a chapter on how to get 8 pack abs for those that think a 6 pack just isn’t good enough.
Conclusion
The New Abs Diet pretends to be something new. However it is simply a basic guide to strength training, good nutrition, and exercise. It provides good sensible nutritional advice, and, if followed correctly would result in weight loss and improved overall conditioning.
Check here for some videos showing proper Ab exercise technique
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the diet is great its well balanced and easy. but this plan also allows for a lot of leniency, so i wonder are people still getting these great results being as flexible as the plans says you can be? For example it’s not required to exercise for the first 3 weeks, and you have the one cheat day. so to someone that has followed the plan and lost a decent amount of weight, did you go ahead and give yourself that leeway or did you just attack full on from the beginning? lol please enlighten me:)
Can someone help me. I want to buy this book in India. can someone guide me where to find it ? Thanks for the help..
I have tried a couple of other diet (adtkins, south beach, etc.) but none have worked as well as this. If you are going to try this, make sure to take time to read the material before starting. If not, you may not get the results that you are looking for. Exercise and diet MUST go together. I am 5’6″ and started at 197lbs. In 10 weeks, I am now at 159 lbs. I could have been further along but foolishly took about a week off. I can now, without thinking, pick out the foods that are best to eat wheh shopping and eating out and really have no desire to have cheat days with the exception of special occasions. Understand, this diet is a continous lifestyle and meant to be ongoing.
I’ve pretty much tried every diet out there. NOTHING WORKS. Here’s the thing, I have been working out 4-5 days per week for over a year. 1 hour of cardio each day, and weights 3 days a week. I watch what I eat. I’ve never been able to lose weight. No matter what I do, I just can’t. I’m starting to think there’s something wrong with me.
This is very good views.plz send other chart for abs
hey for all you people who’ve tried the diet and been successful, did you actually make use of the “cheat meal” every week or did you go on without it ? would like to know , thanks.
okay soo there are several things wrong with what you just said. first of all. if you have 20 pounds to lose…the last diet you need to try is the grapefruit diet. it’s not wise and all it’s going to do is burn your muscle and slow your metabolism down and result in more weight gain. and second of all your muscle cannot turn into fat and the other way around. they are completely different cells. when you lose weight or gain weight…your fat cells merely shrink or expand. you should really try the abs diet because if you’re as active as you say…this diet shouldn’t be a problem. it helps you gain lean muscle which revs up your resting metabolic rate like crazy and in turn lowers your body fat percentage.
PLZ HELP!!!!! Im a track and feild runner on break. After holiday season- im now 155lbs & 5’6”-some mucsle. i need to lose the 20lbs i gained before March 1st. Will this work best for me? ((i mite try the grapefruit one-my friend swears by it)) And do i need to exercise because im tryin to rest my bod and it only makes my fat turn to muscle!!
I like this diet. I am actually eating healthier because of it. I picked up a magic bullet blender and started making shakes with it based on some of the p12. It fills you up (ex: 1 orange/banana/6 mini carrots/whey powder/honey/low fat milk/almonds). It is ready in 1 min. Get the bullet and stay on this diet. It makes it easier.
It worked and is still working for me. I am a lot more physically fit, it terms of well rounded, than I was at 17-21
I did this diet and lost over 100 pounds. Seriously. To eat six times a day it a blessing. And you become very full once you get into it because so many of these products contain fiber which are filling. I would STONGLY suggest this diet to all. PS. My cholesterol went from 210 to 151 in 6 weeks! Yeah, my numbers went down significantly when on this.
Hmmm, this diet sounds promising…
I think you’re all stupid and if you’re gonna critic everyone then at least learn how to feel good about yourselves first!!!!!!!
sounds like the lot of you are retarded!
In my experience, this diet is a good, balanced diet (I’m a software developer, not a dietitian or nutritionist). The exercise was hard to fit in at first, but after about 4-5 weeks, I got used to it. I’ve been on the diet this time (I did it a few years back) for about 14 weeks now. I didn’t need to lose much weight (I have only dropped from 165 to 155), but my body fat % (according to my scale) has dropped from about 21% down to 19%, and my total cholesterol dropped from 276 at the start of the diet to 169 now.
The main complaint my wife had the first time we did this was that the food got boring. This time around, we are taking recipes from other sources, and applying the 12 power foods and making other substitutions to make them Abs Diet-friendly, with pretty good results. As David says in the book, almost anything for South Beach works pretty well here, and we’ve fallen in love with Kashi products.
I have found this diet to be easy to follow, easy on the taste buds, and if you can find 30-45 minutes a day to exercise, very effective.
The recipies are basically good but could use a little reworking to make them tastier. Simple things like adding a few spices can make all the difference.
How do you use the p12 do you consume everything on this list everyday?
Listen up with this diet it is foods that we eat anyways I have lost 40 pound on this diet I exercise 4 days a week with a spin class once a week on Saturday mornings as one of them. To be sucessful with this diet you have to eat the 5 to 6 times a day it seems like your eating alot but really your not, I suggest that you eat breakfast everyday do not skip this meal also make sure you drink plenty of h2o. I feel this diet has helped me in my everyday life I feel good about myself and it has also helped my 12 year old son with his weight because now he is eating fresh food not this drive through garbage. Well good luck to all a remeber it take 20 days for our bodys to make something a habit, this is not a diet to me it is a life change.
I have always been in shape all my life but since I turned 48 a few months ago, I have noticed gaining weight without overindulging in anything. I am healthy, no meds. just multivitamins daily, yet I am overweight.Will this really work ?
Honestly a diet that appears to ommit the foods I truely enjoy is no diet for me, but mostly I do eat these things anyways with a small chocolatey or salty treat each day. Weight Watchers is the diet for me though most don’t like the points system. What it really boils down to is what works for you. To each their own I say. Over all the ABS diet is a pretty basic, common sense diet to me.
hey where can i get this diet? is it only in the book?
oh wow. im surprised to hear that u would reject all those fatty-yummy food. i have to try this diet!
I agree with you, RA. I’ve been on the Abs Diet almost 4 weeks, and foods I used to absolutely live for (i.e., Jif peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chocolate, etc.) are disgusting to me now. I would rather have fat-free cottage cheese with a banana and toasted almonds for “dessert.” Since I tend to eat a lot of protein, plus two snacks a day, I’m never hungry. This is a diet you can really live on.
This diet is very sensible. It’s a better choice over the other “3 hour or 3 day diets” because if you start to eat this way after a week or 2 your body will begin to naturally reject foods with lots of sugar and fat and you will begin eating healthy all the time with not even putting a lot of thought into it. You then will begin to see a significant difference with your weight.
Wow, this diet actually sounds reasonable! It sounds pretty healthy and sustainable. Finally, someone who got it right.
If you lot spent half as much time in the gym as you do scoring points on eachother to make yourselves feel better, you would be in great shape. Very good diet.
Way to go Linda. I too am researching diets because I need to loose about 40 pounds. I have a desk job and work aprox 11 hrs a day. Honestly I do not like exercising every day. I am a meat(hamburger,pork chops & potatoes person. I do like vegetables also). I need something that is quick to put together when I get home. I am not a breakfast person either. So I am exploring all of these. I did join LA Fitness as it will be on my way to work.
Yeah I followed this diet after I bought the book 2 years ago. I was 310 LBS and made it down to 230, which was pretty good for my height of 6’1″. Today I now weight in at 210 LBS and all down to following the instructions of this diet.
PEOPLE, PEOPLE…COME ON! Let’s get it together and stay focused.
I’m still interested on the woman who now weighs 50 lbs..
to rae the reason for hsc comment is because no matter what cause a person to visit this site or any weight loss site should not be calling people fatty.