When you have abs, you have definition, and you have power.
Having great looking abs doesn't just mean you can iron a shirt on your stomach although your pretty amazing if you can, it also means you have a strong core body system which is beneficial to everyday life as well.
A key ingredient that will determine if your successful or not is "water".
Water helps to clear out the fattening cells and helps the skin become thiner which allows the muscle to be shown.
Drinking water constantly while exercising and doing light cardio help to minimize the fattened cells as well which can determine if your stomach is pudgy or not.
Water tends to fill the muscle which greatly helps you build muscle as you work out creating almost an "advantage" as you become bigger and stronger.
When you drink water it creates a situation in the body where you begin to intake proper nutrients and it helps to change the how the cells in your body react.
When you are de-hydrated it can tend to have the opposite effect of what you want and can clog up your bodily cells making the stomach blotch up and you begin to lose the muscle tone in your abdomen.
Again water is here to save the day, when you drink a lot of water it tends to "fill you up" therefore replacing the body's want for something, human beings simply make the mistake of thinking that the body wants food, but in fact it only needs water as water can quench your hunger.
When you do this you body's calorie intake is a lot less allowing you metabolism to get to work and burn more calories making you loose body fat and in the end being happy that you have tight abs.