Sometimes I eat like a half gallon of ice cream and maybe some ramen. I have abs / am pretty lean, so yeah u can eat whatever

Not to flog a dead horse but you can have abs on a pretty bad diet but the best ways to get abs to my knowledge include:

* fiber and hydration: even 45g/d of fiber isn't hard to get ... but be careful about grains
* avoid simple carbs
* do ab specific training but know that this only shapes your muscles ... abs don't just appear without other changes
* barbell training ... a strong body usually provides a platform for a better metabolism, hormonal cascades, and fat burning
* sleep
* do cardio but don't do so much cardio that you sucker yourself into fueling up with high carbs
* thermogenic supplements

I'm 42, 5'11 and about 180 pounds with a 6 pack and I don't "do" abs. What I do is avoid junk/processed food for the most part and exercise regularly. My main forms of exercise in recent months have been the bench press, walking, basketball, and running. I supplement with creatine, arginine and/or beets, and vegan protein. The arginine has nothing to do with abs but maybe it contributes to a vein running through my lower abs and sometimes across my upper abs as well; it facilitates oxygen delivery via better blood flow. Plus I like eating raw beets. I find that arginine improves my stamina and it helps with vascularity. I think creatine and protein are self-explanatory and I'm sure both of those supplements contribute in minor ways to my abdominal development.

Care to explain the changes?

That was lazy talk from me but what I mean was that abs don't present themselves; if we're conditioning our bodies and eating a healthy diet, THEN abs will show. We can do crunches and planks and knee raises and squats and so on forever but the abs we build won't show up until we remove body fat. The "other changes" are changes we make beyond just doing ab and core exercises.

Currently 160lbs 5'11" leanest I've been since highschool. I need weight but that'll come after. I want to turn what fat I currently have into muscle. Abs are showing now but they are so damn faint. I Think I just need them to grow and they will show more. As in put on more muscle in my abominal region.
I think I eat fine. I am just not consists atm with my calorie intake

This post was edited by killerrs2 on Sep 12 2020 01:04pm

It could be about adding muscle but it could be that there is still some fat hanging around your abdomen.

Exercise ideas: I don't know if you have access to weighted ab machines, but if not, you can do crunches with a weighted vest or holding a plate or medicine ball (or whatever you have on hand) to see if that helps. Lower abs are less likely to show, and doing exercises which bring the knees up tend to hit that area. You can develop your abs by adding volume to ab exercises or by increasing the load, or by working on areas you don't normally hit. The volume theory of hypertrophy is indisputable but for abs I've found that adding greater resistance brings them out more than adding reps.

If you post your routine maybe someone can give you pointers. I've developed abdominals in a few different ways over my decades and as a personal trainer and an athlete I hope it's fair for me to say that there's no real golden road to abs. At 5'11" and 160 pounds, if you're not sedentary, chances are that you'll have at least some abs showing regardless of whether you're doing it right or not. I'm 5'11 and I've had abs at 212 and I've also let myself go and not had abs at 185-190 before, too. So there is a method to the madness.