Congrats man, it seems you know its all about the diet. It took me forever to get mine in my early 30s and now redoing it. A very strict diet with one splurge day a week, a lot of running my ass off and cardio as well as hitting the gym hard. I think what people miss, is that you can sit ups and crunches, whatever until dooms day, but if you dont get that body fat percentage down to about 10-12%, you'll never see those abs you built hidden underneath.