A good diet is highly important. There are a lot of reviews of diet programs to lose weight on the Internet and you want to spend some time reading some of the websites on this subject.
The mental muscle needs workout too: Getting six pack abs requires specific physical workouts. Similarly, solving a puzzle, reading challenging material, learning a new skill, etc. strengthen your mental muscle.
Six-Pack Abs Rule#6: The tricky thing about abs is that they build up endurance very quickly. If you just do one
ab workouts exercise every day, in a week's time your abs will plateau. You have to have variety in your abs workout. In fact, you need variety for any muscle you're training. Muscles need to be challenged constantly in order to improve.
This is an exercise we really like doing because you can do a lot of reps and keep your abs under tension for a long time. If done properly it will really hit your obliques which is something very few people work out.
This is where the differences become most apparent. The P90X is designed to Build muscle fast while improving cardiovascular health. Insanity will get you into top notch condition, but you will not be likely to
acquire a six-pack. That does not mean that it isn't just as effective as the P90X. It just means that it's focus is not muscle building. If your primary focus is weight loss than Insanity should be your choice because it burns the most calories.
Abs training gets you rid of stomach fat. Wrong, big time. I've seen guys that do very very intense abs training - like military endurance or something and I couldn't see a single pack on them. Fat on stomach can be reduced by different kind of exercise and diet, not abs training. You can actually have really nice 6 pack abs hidden under layers of fat.
Despite doing over an hour of cardio at least three times a week and lifting three times a week as well, I wasn't in good shape. Also, despite my workout attempts, I was also getting what you have termed as the "skinny fat" appearance.
5) Drink water. Water really helps wash away your belly fat over time. Instead of drinking any sugary soda or juice have water. Drink at least 8 glasses a day. Unsweetened tea is another powerful fat burner.
You add twenty pounds of muscle, not hard to do using the right program. Those twenty pounds of muscle will require 500 to 1000 calories a day to feed them.