If you want to know how to get six pack abs you need to be aware of the three biggest mistakes men and women make – and avoid them at all cost!

First, you need to understand the difference between getting six pack abs and simply losing body fat. Getting a six pack abs is all about having extremely low levels of body fat. For men, it is around 8% and for women, around 15%. Training and eating wisely to get body fat levels this low is much different than someone who just goes on a diet and wants to lose 20-30 pounds.

If you are just trying to lose a lot of weight, then making small changes to your diet will help you make a lot of progress very fast. For example, if you were to only drink water, unsweetened iced tea and green tea, you would not be consuming any calories from beverages. For someone who just wants to lose weight, a small modification such as this can make a big difference.

For someone who wants to get six pack abs, the process is much more detailed. Here are two mistakes that most people make when they try to develop six pack abs.

Mistake No.1: They try to do too many crunches and ab exercises.

While crunches and other ab exercises will help to build a stronger core, they will not help you get down to a low level of body fat to get six pack abs. Doing endless reps of ab exercises simply does not build enough muscle or work your body hard enough to burn significant calories.

The myth of “spot” reduction is where a lot of people get caught out. The concept of spot reduction is that if you want to lose fat in a certain part of the body you should work the muscles underneath it. However, our bodies do not store fat in one specific place, therefore you cannot lose fat in one specific place either.

I guarantee you will never see someone who has six pack abs in the front, but is flabby around the rest of their midsection. If spot reduction actually worked this is what would happen. In the real world however, you need to focus on losing body fat all over in order to developing six pack abs.

Mistake No. 2: Trying to use ab equipment gimmicks.

When you see an advertisement for an “miracle” piece of ab equipment, the people who are using them usually have great bodies, low body fat, and a great six pack. However I can guarantee you one thing, and that is they did not get that way to using one single piece of abdominal exercise equipment.

In the same way that lots of crunches do not help you get six pack abs, the same holds true for any ab crunch machine you see on an advertisement.

This all goes back to the false concept that working the abs with lots of exercises will directly lead to a six pack. All the people who have the best abs got them by exercising their whole body and by sticking to a very strict diet, not by using some ab crunch gimmick for “two easy payments of $29.95″ or whatever.

Mistake No. 3: Eating too many calories.

Sounds overly simplistic doesn’t it?

This is one of the most important core concepts that is crucial to understanding how to lose body fat and develop six pack abs. So many people try to eat healthy and still have trouble losing weight. Sometimes they think they have something physiologically wrong with them and their bodies simply cannot lose weight.

Before you fall into this trap and start seeking “miracle” quick fixes, you need to know that if you’re not able to lose body fat  you are simply taking in too many calories. Try keeping a food journal for a week and count the calories you consume – you will be amazed at the insight it will give you.

Even if you eat 400 extra calories a day from little snacks here and there (which is not difficult at all), you will be taking in an extra 2,800 calories per week. For some people, taking in an extra 500-1000 calories per day can easily come from foods that are extremely calorie-dense, but do not help you feel full. Such foods include bagels, donuts, muffins, potato chips, soda, any kind of fast food, and more.

So before you think that getting six pack abs or simply losing body fat is impossible for you, try taking a few days to really track what you are eating. You will be surprised that losing weight can really be as simple as cutting out small-calorie dense foods from your diet.

A wise man once said that having great six pack abs feels better than the best tasting food in the world. Remember this concept and start taking action today.

Disclosure: compensated affiliate.