How To Get A Toned Stomach : Your Complete Guide

If you are reading this article right now on how to get a toned stomach, congratulations.

Why am I saying congratulations?

I am saying congratulations because you have finally come across a real, reliable source of information that is going to get you the results you are looking for.

In a world of “DO THIS 9 MINUTE AB ROUTINE TO SEE A 6 PACK IN 4 HOURS!” And “BUY THIS PILL TO GET RID OF BELLY FAT YESTERDAY!”.

You have finally stumbled upon someone who is going to shoot it to you straight and give you the real answer to how to achieve your goals. (That someone is me, Eric, hey).

I am going to give you the no BS way for how to get a toned stomach.

I just please urge you, almost beg you, read the entire article.

Top to bottom, left to right.

There is so much quack information out there that I don’t want you leaving here confused or wondering what does and doesn’t work anymore.

I need you to leave this article confident you are going to reach your goals.

So as long as you promise to read, I promise to give you the answer.

Now let’s do this.

How To Get A Toned Stomach

Three Main Components

When it comes to how to get a toned stomach, there are 3 main components that need to be covered.

Your mindset, nutrition, and workouts.

Luckily for you in this article I am going to completely breakdown all three of these in depth so you can leave here ready to crush sh*t.

Let’s first start with mindset, because let’s be honest, unless your mind isn’t in the game, all of the other stuff doesn’t matter.

You “know what to do”, but why aren’t you doing or or why can’t you stick with it you ask yourself? That is where the mindset comes into play.

How To Get A Toned Stomach : Your Mindset

Step Away From The Scale

Alright so this section is certainly going to blow your mind, so stay tuned here.

One of the biggest things I need you to take away from this article more so than anything else is that the scale, needs to become less and less important to you.

Here is the deal.

The scale is not evil. You don’t have to throw it out of your window or smash it with a hammer (as much as you may want to).

It is a piece of plastic with numbers on it. It doesn’t control you. You are letting it control you.

You are the one giving it all the power in the world.

It is simply just one form of data to track progress. It is in by no means the most accurate or reliable way to track progress.

And let’s be honest here.

You don’t really care what the number on the scale says. You might think you do or say you do.

What you really care about is looking good naked. Let’s call it how it is.

You want to look in the mirror and get that “look”. You want that toned stomach!

The number on the scale, and your toned stomach, are two different things entirely.

Let me show you what I mean.

Take A Look At My Online Coaching Client Christina Here Below

This is my online coaching client Christina.

She is literally one of the hardest working human beings I have ever met. She is kind, she puts her all into what she does no matter what it is, and she, much like you, was searching for hours on end to figure out how to get a toned stomach.

As you can see here from her insane progress pictures, I think it is safe to say she has done just that.

Want to know the best part about this?

In between these two pictures, she is actually up two lbs.

Yep.

She gained 2 lbs in between these 2 pics.

But Eric, how could that be?! She looks amazing!! Shouldn’t the scale go down?!

Let’s talk about it.

Losing Fat & Building Muscle

There is something called body recomposition. This is essentially when you lose fat and build muscle at the same time.

And before you ask, no, muscle does not weigh more than fat. Muscle weighs the same as fat.

1lb of muscle weighs the same as 1lb of fat. Just like 1lb of feathers weighs the same as 1lb of bricks.

The composition is different though.

Muscle is more dense than fat, so it takes up less space on your body.

Therefore if you lose say 3lbs of fat while simultaneously gaining 3lbs of muscle, the scale ain’t gonna move honey.

Yet your body will look different, your measurements will go down, your clothes will fit different, etc.

This is exactly what Christina did above, as well as what my other online coaching client Bremer did here below.

As you can see, Bremer completely did a 180 with his physique.

Now, this dude literally followed the program to a T the entire time he was with me. Like legit, barely even wavered once. He’s an animal.

But none the less you can look at his stomach and physique to see how much of a change he has made.

What am I getting at?

Stop Focusing On The Scale

If you truly want to know how to get a toned stomach, stop focusing on the scale is the first and most important part.

You don’t care about the number on the scale, you care about how you look.

The scale is not going to tell the whole story of how you look. Measurements and progress pictures will do that for you.

I would still encourage you to take your weight. In fact, all of my clients weigh in every single day.

Why? Because like I mentioned above, it is just data.

But as you have seen it is by far not the most accurate form of data when it comes to changing the way your body looks.

It does not tell the whole story.

So before you even dive into the workouts or nutrition of things, you need to understand first and foremost the scale is the last thing you should be looking at.

It might not change that much or it might even go up! Yet remember, this is about you looking good naked, not just weighing a # on the scale.

That number is now irrelevant, got it?

Seriously, don’t f*ck around here. I need you to get this because if you don’t you will never win.

Stop letting that scale control your life. Start taking measurements every two weeks and progress pictures every 4 weeks.

Monitor the progress and I promise if you then follow what we are going to talk about here, you are going to see tremendous progress.

How To Get A Toned Stomach : Nutrition

More Muscle Building , Less Fat Loss

When it comes to how to get a toned stomach, you just saw above that the scale is not the end all be all.

You also saw learned that building muscle and losing fat is what you want to accomplish, like my clients did above.

I am going to break down two different scenarios for you in regards to what you should do with your nutrition.

The first scenario is going to be if you are that “skinny fat”, or if you think you have “the last 5-10lbs to lose” (major eye roll there.. That is my biggest pet peeve).

Skinny Fat, Have 5-10 lbs to lose

So if you were like one of my clients above in those pictures where you don’t really have a TON of weight to lose, but you want to get rid of that stomach, this section is for you.

Here is what you should do.

Eat right around your maintenance calories, eat around your bodyweight (in lbs) in protein, and lift heavy weights to build muscle (we will cover this more in the workout section).

Do that with 85-90% consistency week after week, month after month.

First, if you don’t know what your maintenance calories are, you can head HERE to my 100% free calculator to figure out how many calories to eat.

Second, if you weigh 150lbs, try to get around 150g of protein.

Third, why should you do this?

You have probably heard if you want to lose fat you have to eat in a calorie deficit!

Yes, this is true. 100%.

Yet two things here.

Number one, if you eat around maintenance calories, while eating the protein suggested, and following a structured workout program like the one we will talk about below, here is what will happen.

You are going to be able to build lean muscle mass. This is going to do two things.

Number one it is going to improve your body fat percentage and help you “look” the way you want to lose.

Remember, body fat % is not just the body fat you have. It is in comparison to your lean muscle mass that you have.

If you don’t have any or low lean lean muscle mass, then you aren’t going to look the way you want to look or have a good body fat % no matter what.

Number two is by building this lean muscle mass, you will actually increase your metabolism as well.

Therefore if you are eating around maintenance calories, it will probably push you into a slight calorie deficit.

Now you are going to think “well then why don’t I just start in a deficit form the beginning?!”.

Because, if you go too low in calories, you won’t be able to build muscle. Then you will not get the positive benefits of what we listed above.

Eating right around maintenance calories is going to help optimize muscle definition, which can help you look the way you want to look.

Both pics you saw of my clients above ate right around their maintenance calories and saw the tremendous progress they did.

I am not lying to you here, trust me. Do it.

If You Have 10+ Lbs To Lose

Now the second scenario is going to be if you have 10+lbs to lose.

In this scenario what I want you to do is eat in a calorie deficit to lose body fat.

Yet not too low because again, if you go too low, you won’t be able to build lean muscle mass, which you need to look the way you want to look.

If you need to know how many calories to eat so that it isn’t too low, head HERE to my 100% totally free weight loss calorie calculator.

Second, still hit the same amount of protein as suggested above.

Third, still do the same with workouts as suggested above (and more so below).

Finally, I want to show you this.

This is one of my online coaching clients below Maricela.

Maricela, like my other clients, works hard as HELL.

She has literally been 90% + consistent since we started together, and it clearly shows.

She came to me wanting to “lose weight”, but then we soon found out she really just wanted to get strong and changed the way she looks. The scale was irrelevant if she was seeing progress in other areas.

Guess how many lbs she lost in those pics above.

Guess!

6.

Yep, 6lbs.

But look how freaking insanely different she looks.

Her measurements went down, she lost fat and built muscle, and she looks freaking amazing.

This is continuing to show, the scale, is not the end all be all. I don’t care how much weight you do or don’t have to lose, you need to track other forms of data than just the scale.

How To Get A Toned Stomach : Workouts

Move Away From The Cardio

In a world where HIIT cardio and ab workouts galore run the internet it seems, I am here to tell you that is not the most optimal way to go about your workouts if you are looking to get a toned stomach.

Tons of cardio and super low calories isn’t going to get you where you want to be, I can promise you that.

As you have learned thus far one of your main focuses should be building muscle.

That is what your workouts should be based around.

Getting stronger, building lean muscle mass, applying progressive overload , etc.

Remember, if you do not have the adequate lean muscle mass built, you will not change the way your body looks.

I don’t care what YouTube video you follow, or ab workout routine you do.

You need to spend time following a real, properly and intelligently designed strength training program in order to get the results you are looking for.

Now, to be quite frank, I could write a whole separate article on how to create and design your workouts so you can see progress.

Actually, I did.

I can link here below two resources for you.

Another article I wrote on how to design your own workout program HERE.

As well as a video I did on how to create and design your own workout program HERE if you are more of a visual learner.

Yet either way the fact remains, much like we talked about stop focusing on the scale, stop focusing on cardio.

It doesn’t mean don’t do cardio. Cardio is great for your heart health, mental health, etc.

But I would not put the priority on cardio if you are really looking to change your body.

My two cents would be to simply set a step goal of walking 5-8k steps per day.

Every single one of my clients you have seen thus far did exactly that.

They worked out 3-4x per week and walked 5-8k steps per day when it comes to their workout routine.

Obviously on top of following the nutrition protocols provided.

No crazy intense hiit workouts, no 2 hour long cardio sessions.

Get strong. Build muscle. Hit your nutrition. Walk.

It really is, just that simple.

How To Get A Toned Stomach : Final Word

Well, I said congratulations at the beginning and I meant it.

If you have read this far, first off congratulate yourself. Most people have the attention span of a squirrel and can’t finish a whole article, so kudos.

Yet now I want to apologize to you.

Why?

Because I know this isn’t what you want to hear. You want to hear you can take some pill and get a flat stomach.

Or just do endless YouTube ab workouts and they will magically appear!

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

I am not telling you what you want to hear to sell you something, I am telling you what you need to hear to get results.

I hope you take that to heart.

If you need extra help with workouts or nutrition, you can think about joining My Clubhouse which lies all of my workout programs, diet protocols, etc.

Any other questions feel free to drop below.

Chat soon,

-E