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 twenties, thirties, and forties.

- 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 percent when you cross from your teens into your twenties (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 twenties, which is why most people gain an average of 1.2 pounds per year at this age), it’s still high, says endocrinologist Scott Isaacs, M.D., the author of Hormonal Balance. You’re also continuing to churn out large amounts of hormones, like estrogen (this peaks in your late teens or early twenties), which guides your body to store fat in the hips, butt, and breasts instead of the midsection, and growth hormone, which 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 favor, four years of keg parties and late-night pizza may have left you with a post grad gut, and those poor eating and drinking habits have a tendency to linger just about as long as your student loan payments. “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.