You eat your carrot sticks. You do your crunches. And you haven't so much as looked at a bowl of pasta in months. So where the heck is your six-pack?

Unfortunately, as we all know, diet and exercise doesn't always deliver the taut and toned bodies we fantasize about. Sometimes you're left with that one (okay, five) little maddening bulges that stand between you and that killer bikini you've been dying to wear.

Well, if the flat abs aren't going to come to you, it's time to go to them. Better yet, have Dr. Paul Parker of the Parker Center for Plastic Surgery in northern New Jersey recreate abs of steel with his groundbreaking new lipoabdominoplasty procedure.

According to Parker's press release, the cosmetic procedure blends elements of tummy tucks and liposuction to contour the upper stomach and waist areas. Developed in Brazil but now available here in the States, lipoabdominoplasty involves rigorous lipo to the upper abdomen and waist, followed by a tightening of the underlying loose rectus muscles and a removal of the excess loose skin thanks to a short incision.

The procedure touts a shorter recovery period, with patients back on their feet within 10 days. Parker has performed the procedure for more than 50 patients over the past year.

"The ideal candidates for this procedure are patients who are in relatively good physical shape, but may have excess skin and/or fat in the abdominal area that doesn't respond to diet and exercise," Dr. Parker says. That includes people who have lost significant amounts of weight.

The lipoabdominoplasty should offer new hope to women and men fed up with their "Abs of Steel" workout tapes and fat flushing diets. After all, life's too short to do sit-ups.