Same waist size before and after doing crunches, but less fat than before

Question

The day before yesterday (8/6), I did crunches for continuously 10 minutes, and the next day, which is yesterday (8/7) when I woke up, I found that a layer of my fat disappear. By "disappear", I mean "not visible anymore" or "can't be felt", not really "disappear", because fat cells never really disappear. When I measured my waist size, I found that it is almost the same as the day before yesterday, before doing crunches for 10 minutes. However, when I pinched my skin on the belly, I found that there are less fat and more muscles.

I must admit that I was quite happy at that time, and I believed that if I just keep doing crunches and abdominal exercises, I can get abs soon. So yesterday (8/7), I did the same thing I did on the day before yesterday, I did crunches and reverse crunches for a long time without stop. And today when I woke up, I found that the situation on my belly is like yesterday, almost same waist size, less fat and more muscles. It is certainly better than before, but no big change from yesterday.

And later, I saw the comment on my previous post How to burn fat effectively:

"today when I wake up, I found that a layer of my fat in my belly has disappeared" I don't think that's what happened. It's much more likely that your abs are just swollen from doing so many crunches, and are temporarily a little more prominent. Body fat changes occur much too slowly to be able to see changes overnight. - David Scarlett

Is that true? What happened to my belly? Is it really like what I'm told in the comment, that my abs are just "swollen"? And if I keep doing crunches continuously for a long period of time, will I get six-packs?

Answer 1

Is that true? What happened to my belly? Is it really like what I'm told in the comment, that my abs are just "swollen"?

It is more commonly known as the muscle pump. Basically blood flows in to the muscle in preparation for more intense work. It is the strongest immediately following a workout and lasts a day or two depending on how intense the workout is. They will go back to normal size if you don't do anything for a few days.

So basically what's happening is you do your ab workout. Your abs become "pumped". They push up against the layer of fat and skin that is on top. This makes them a little more prominent than before. They will go back down to normal size if you stopped.

And if I keep doing crunches continuously for a long period of time, will I get six-packs?

If you do crunches continuously for many months while practicing progressive overload, then your abs might get bigger and they'd be slightly more prominent on their own. This is assuming you kept your bodyfat percentage at the level that it's at right now. This could mean that six months from now, you'd be doing crunches or other ab-related workouts for an hour straight and... who has time for that?

Though I'd like to point out some comments on your other question.

Body Fat: 9 ~ 10%

I know people suggested losing weight to see abs, but assuming the above is true, then that's already pretty lean. I don't think it's a good idea honestly to go leaner than that. 10-15% is usually the minimum walking around weight for males, and going less than that starts impacting your health.

Yes, I want to get it in a month

I'm sorry to say that's not going to happen. Both building muscle (in this case abs) and losing bodyfat is a long process.

I'm attending a swimming camp next month

Age: 13

I sometimes think to myself what I'd do differently when I started. Like you, I started fitness because I wanted abs. After a few years of really unhealthy lifestyle choices, I decided to switch gears and focus on athletic performance. I wanted to run faster and farther. I wanted to do a single pull-up. I wanted to deadlift my bodyweight.

Switching gears to athleticism changed my physique over time. It wasn't in a single month, but a year later I looked way better than I did after 3 years prior.

So going to David Scarlett's answer:

But if you want to impress people at a swimming camp, surely a better way of doing that is to work hard on getting better at swimming, rather than training your abs?

To your comment:

What if I'm already good at swimming?

But you can always improve. Swimming takes a lot of core work. So by swimming hard and pushing yourself, you're essentially doing ab workouts. If you try to best your previous times, then you're essentially doing progressive overload. You can supplement ab workouts to help you become a better swimmer.