So, it's been seven days.

Seven days since I donned a crop top, showed the world my belly, and vowed to do my best to get a set of six-pack abs in a week.

You remember what I looked like before.

Here's what I look like now:

While I'm actually super stoked with the small progress I made (it was only seven days people!), I can see now how hard it would be to actually get six-pack abs. Really, really hard, that is.

Even though I was trying to maintain a strict diet and workout regime, I was tempted by french fries and alcohol out at a bar one night, sneakily took a couple of days off because I wasn't in the mood to workout (and just to make things worse, treated myself to chips and chocolate on those days too), and indulged in some lovely home-cooking that was the antihesis of low-fat.

Can you imagine if I had really, properly, truly gone hardcore? Twice-daily workouts living on boiled chicken and egg whites?

Sure, I might be seriously ripped, but there's no way that would be sustainable.

I think, over the past seven days, I did the best I could, at a level I would be happy to continue. But I learnt a few things along the way that I can take with me into the next week...

High Intensity Interval Training is my favorite thing ever 

I had come across BodyRock.tv before last week, and thought the workouts looked a little too intense for me. But, when you've given yourself seven days to get a six-pack, intense is good!

I tried their 'Sexy Time Abs' Workout, and I was hooked. I moved on to the 'Set Fire to Your Abs' Workout, and I alternated between the two among my other exercise endeavours.

They're crazy hard, but only run for 12-15 minutes. It's long enough to shred you up, but just short enough that you can really stay focused and push yourself to the end.

Seriously, in love. I don't think I would have had as much progress as I did without these workouts!

You cannot get a six-pack without changing your diet

Early in the week a Twitter follower reminded me that 'abs are made in the kitchen', and unless I was working on my diet, I wasn't going to get the results I wanted.

My mate Robert Padbury (Apple designer, and fitness nutrition enthusiast on the side), out of San Francisco agreed.

"Six-packs happen when your overall body fat is under about 10%. And you can train to build the volume of the muscles, but if you've still got fat on top (i.e. not under 10% body fat) you won't be able to see the muscles." Getting abs is all about exercising, with the diet, but Robert says it's a little more complicated than reducing your calories in, and increasing your calories out.

"There have been no medical studies that have shown low calorie, high exercise to be a successful strategy for losing weight. It's unsustainable - you're starving the body. And when the body is starving, it burns the muscles first, not the fat."

So, Robert suggests it's not how much food you eat, but what it is.

"Insulin causes you to put on weight. And everytime you eat sugar, your body has to produce insulin to metabolize it." As a result, Robert goes for a diet that's low in sugar (that includes fruit!), and low in simple carbs to lose weight - and it means you can still be healthy and balanced with your eating!

Eating the right diet can be a pretty complicated thing, with so many sources feeding us all lots of different information - and I personally don't like to go to extremes. Everything in moderation, right?

I cut down the amount I was eating over the past week, but I definitely didn't starve myself. I usually eat a lot. Too much, but most standards! So cutting down my portion sizes was a healthy choice - but I definitely allowed myself occasional treats, and I didn't explode. But, on the days I was working out, I had no desire for crappy foods - proving that when you get into a good, healthy routine, you don't even feel like you're denying yourself!

For reference though, my diet was of the low carb, low sugar, variety, like Robert's.

Not everyone is cut out for getting cut

Frank, from Florida (or packard400 on YouTube), a Stop Being Crap YouTube viewer, and a certified personal trainer, gave me a little insight on my abdominal challenge - including why seven days was probably never going to be long enough for someone of my shape.

"Your bellybutton is higher, so your lower abs are longer, and lower abs take forever to show definition."

He also suggests that a carved six-pack isn't for keeps. "It's really tough to maintain the 'cut' appearance unless you're doing constant cardio," Frank says.

"A 'half-way' mid-section, with definition around the outer perimeter of the abs, and the centre line visible, toned, but flexible, is easier to maintain in about 20-30 minutes a day. But a chiseled six-pack would have you in the gym every day, and if you're not training for a bodybuilding competition, that just isn't real life."

So maybe I don't want a proper six-pack. Maybe something on my stomach that alludes to a six-pack will do just fine.

It's great to see my body changing after the effort I put in and I intend to push it for a little longer while I'm still enjoying the process, but strong, healthy and SUSTAINABLE is definitely the goal now!