Get Flat Abs At Any Age

There are ways to overcome hormone shifts and metabolism dips to shrink ab fat. Just follow this expert guide to getting your best belly in your 20s, 30s, and 40s.

- Lesley Rotchford

WHEN YOU’RE IN YOUR . . . 20S

In theory, these should be flat-ab glory years. Though your metabolism starts to drop by 1 to 2 per cent when you cross from your teens into your 20s (that means, if you’re burning 2,500 calories a day in your teens, you’ll burn 25 to 50 fewer calories a day in your 20s, which is why most people gain an average of 0.5kg per year at this age), it’s still high, says endocrinologist Dr Scott Isaacs, author of Hormonal Balance: How to Lose Weight by Understanding Your Hormones and Metabolism .

You’re also continuing to churn out large amounts of hormones, like oestrogen, which peaks in your late teens or early 20s. It guides your body to store fat in the hips, butt, and breasts instead of the midsection, and the human growth hormone releases fat from its stores in the body so it can be delivered to your muscles for energy, Dr Isaacs says.

Still, even with all this in your favour, four years of late nights may have left you with a post -grad gut, and those poor eating and drinking habits have a tendency to linger. “After graduation, people tend to spend more time sitting at a desk, and this sedentary lifestyle can lead to more weight gain, especially if you’re still drinking a lot and not keeping close tabs on your diet,” Dr Isaacs explains.

This is particularly true if you consume a lot of carbs. A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition revealed that large amounts of processed carbs (the higher-carb participants in the study were eating 55 per cent carbs, 18 per cent protein, and 27 per cent fat) raise the body’s level of insulin, which prevents fat from being unlocked from abdominal fat stores and burned off.