• Six principles of six-pack eating

• Eat your way to a six-pack

• Cut back

• The science of weight loss is fairly straightforward: "You simply have to burn more calories than you consume," says trainer Richard Levy. "Try to cut 500 calories a day from your diet. Your body will sense the drop in food and compensate by using stored fat as energy."
  

• Little and often

• "Eat little and often to prevent you craving the wrong foods. Aim for six meals a day: this will keep your blood sugar stable," says Pip Hartnell, chief nutritionist at Pure Packages. And never skip meals. Going without food for more than four hours causes the body to suppress its calorie-burning capacity.
  

• Ditch the booze

• "Kick the booze. Not only is it high in calories itself, it also reduces the amount of fat calories you burn, boosts your appetite and drops your testosterone levels," says personal trainer Ross Chouler.
  

• Choose your carbs

• "Eat the right kind of carbohydrates," says Hartnell. "Avoid processed carbs such as white bread and go for the slow-release variety of beans, lentils, oats, brown rice, whole wheat and rye."
  

• Pack in protein

• "Make sure you get enough protein," says Hartnell. "Your body uses 20% to 30% more energy to digest it than it needs for carbohydrates. And if you're looking to build muscle, you need to eat two grammes of protein per kilo of bodyweight." Try to tuck away some protein-rich food (fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, milk, tofu, pulses) at every meal.
  

• Eau yes!

• "Drink plenty of water," advises Hartnell. "The body can mistake thirst for hunger, so make sure you're drinking at least 1.5 litres of water a day. If you exercise, increase this to two litres per day."
  
  Words by Sarah Hecks