I learned three lessons that I want to share with you to help make this process a lot smoother for you. 

You should also know about two of the big trade offs (that you won’t often hear about) to help you decide whether or not getting this lean is worth it for you.

You need to lose more weight than you think

I had a guy message me recently. 

‘Hey, I’m 5’8, I’m 210 pounds and I’d like to see my abs. I think I probably need to lose like 15 to 20 pounds to get there. I want to be ripped at 190’

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you probably won’t be that lean at 190 lb / 5’8.

In the case of most guys, on average, you’re going to need to lose more weight and more fat than you think. 

Unless you have a solid amount of muscle underneath there.

You might end up losing 15, 20, 25 pounds and still think – Oh my god, there’s more?

And I’m not saying this to dissuade you, I’m just saying this to give you an idea of what you’re actually getting yourself into.

It’s probably going to be leaner than you think, especially if you’ve never been ab lean before, or you haven’t been ab lean since high school. It’s usually leaner than you want to be. 

It might not be 20, 25 pounds, but more like 40+ pounds. There’s no way for me to say for sure, where that 10 to 15 percent body fat range is going to be for you. 

Not to mention:

• how visible your abs are based on your genetics

• where you store fat 

• and how developed your abs are

You just have to lose the weight and figure it out, but don’t be shocked if you lose a bunch of weight and you’re still not ab lean. 

Your primary weapon for losing fat is losing weight. 

Once you can learn how to do that – it’s not a matter of IF you’ll get lean… but just how lean you want to get. 

This is the premise of what I teach in ‘On-Demand Fat Loss​’. 

Lose weight while keeping muscle around, using a simplified nutrition approach. 

Moving on. 

sUstAiNiNg iT Is ThE hArD pArT

What the fuck? 

Why is this in every single article and video about getting ab lean?

In what world is dieting for fat loss (when you actually restrict your food) not the hard part? That’s when you get hungry. That’s when you are restricting your food choices. You’re having to be more active. That’s when the real challenge is.

Once you get ab lean, it’s fairly easy to maintain. 

I’m not talking about under 10 percent body fat where your belly button disappears and your skin looks like dick skin. That’s when your sleep is all fucked up and all you can think about it all day is food. I’m not talking about that. 

But holding at 10, 12, or 15 percent body fat is not all that hard.

Especially if you’re fairly active throughout the day, lifting weights and eating mostly healthy and nutritious foods… 

(which by the way, you should already be doing if you want to get lean) 

Don’t worry too much about the maintenance side of things. 

It’s way overstated just how difficult it is to maintain your weight once you’re lean

I could hang out at this body fat percentage doing just two workouts per week and never counting another calorie. 

You don’t have to do it all in one shot.

Let’s think again about this guy who is 5’8, 210 pounds. 

Let’s say he actually needs to get down to 155, 160 to see his abs. Total conjecture here, but it’s not impossible. 

Could he do a straight up 45, 50 pound fat loss diet? Yeah, I guess. But that’s gonna be absolutely brutal. 

By the end of it he’s going to be crazy hungry, and the whole process will feel like a grind. 

Instead – he could divide it up into two diets of 12 weeks each in duration.

12 weeks of fat loss – lose around 20 lb. 

Then, take a 4 week diet break, where he maintains his new low body weight. He eats more food. His sleeps are getting better. His energy is coming back. He gets some fun meals out with his girlfriend…

Then he does another fat loss diet and pushes into ab lean territory in a second step.

Maybe even there’s a third fat loss diet. 

That breaks things up and makes it a lot more manageable. 

I wrote about this in 8 Simple Nutrition Strategies to Transform Your Body.

The drawbacks of getting ab lean 

So you can decide whether or not this is something you want to do… 

I just alluded to what’s called diet fatigue in the previous tip. Diet fatigue is a mixed bag of negative effects that come along with dieting for fat loss.

Things like. 

• hunger

• irritability 

• moodiness

•  decreased productivity

• sleep disturbances

• lower energy

• workouts can take a hit 

• sex drive can take a hit.

The psychological and physiological effects of dieting.

They’re not fun. They’re not sexy. They’re the side of getting lean that you don’t really see on social media. It’s not really that cool to be neurotic about your food – tracking steps, and being diligent daily. 

Feeling hungry, going to bed hungry, waking up and eating the same things most days.  

I’m not saying it has to suck, but in many cases, there’s going to be a monotony associated with it.

There’s going to be a reduced amount of fun foods. You’re probably going to have to find entertainment and enjoyment in some places that aren’t just food for the period of your fat loss diet. 

If you’re overly attached to just eating whatever the fuck you want, love having all the energy in the world, and you fear hunger or feeling low energy… I don’t know if pushing deep into the fat loss diet territory is going to be something you want to do. 

But, hey, get down there, push hard, see how it feels. 

If things get too hard, you can always back off and just eat a maintenance diet. Maybe after four or six or eight weeks of maintenance dieting and eating, you feel good again.

You can push back into another fat loss diet from there.   

There’s another big drawback you likely haven’t considered.. 

You straight up might not like how you look when you’re lean. 

No offense.

Again, not trying to dissuade you here. I’m just being honest. This is a real life thing.

You may get leaner and leaner. Maybe you lose 40 pounds. You get down to a point where you’re like, man, I can’t really see my abs yet still and I need to lose another 10, 15, or 20 pounds n order to really see those things pop. But you look like Skeletor.

You’ll look small. In clothes, maybe even scrawny. Some people think I have stopped lifting weights, when I have a hoodie on. 

Getting ab lean, in a lot of cases, is not the best look. Most guys, in my opinion, look best in like the 12, 15, maybe even up to 18 percent body fat territory with a little bit more muscle. 

In case you’re not sure to start with building muscle – read How to Get Better Results than 99% of Guys in The Gym

They add some size to their frame. They stay just a little bit fluffier. You fill out clothes nicer. You won’t look as lean in pictures, with good lighting, with your shirt off, but how often do you do that? 

In pretty much every other scenario of everyday life, you’re going to look better. You’re going to feel better. Your mood, your energy, your hunger levels, and your training quality are all going to be higher too

You may not like the super lean look – but there’s only one way to find out for sure. 

Hopefully, this helps you make a decision about whether or not you want to get ab lean. 

And if you do decide to do it, it should make it easier for you.

Now go start losing fat today. 

You’ll be shocked what you could accomplish by this summer if you do things right. 

I appreciate you reading this letter. 

Thanks for being here. 

– Matteo Marra