Let’s face it, we are obsessed with six-pack abs. A look at the facts behind that hard-to-tone part of our figures.

60: Percent of Americans who say they’d choose toned abs over any other muscle group.

40: Percentage of women who said they would choose to have Janet Jackson’s abs, as compared to 21 percent who would want Julia Roberts’s smile.

1993: Year in which trainer Kurt Brungardt is credited for kicking off the washboard-look craze with his exercise guide Complete Book of Abs.

924: Average number of ab exercisers for sale on eBay in early 2007.

80: Percentage less of a workout an Ab Rocker gives the ab muscles than traditional crunches do, according to an American Council of Exercise study.

10: Body fat percentage below which ab muscles become visible on men.

14: Body fat percentage below which they become visible on women.

2005: Year in which Men’s Health editor in chief David Zinczenko said, “How many weeks in a row did [US Weekly] have the Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston breakup on the cover? Abs are our Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston.”

90: Percent of the world believed to be born with “innie” belly buttons.

$5,500: Cost of an umbilicoplasty to change an outie into an innie by James Romano, a plastic surgeon in San Francisco.

47: Number of sit-ups a female Army recruit of age 17 to 21 must be able to complete in order to pass basic training.

500-1,000: Number of crunches Britney Spears, then 21, told Oprah that she did per day when getting ready to go on tour in 2002.

9,628: Number of sit-ups Guinness World Record holder Ashrita Furman completed in one hour in 2006.

71: Percentage of women who say they wish they had flatter abs.

42: Percentage of women who reported they find love handles on a man “kind of sexy,” according to a survey by Playgirl magazine.

2005: Year in which Mariah Carey was suspected of having a six-pack airbrushed on her abdomen for a midriff-baring performance.

90: Percent of pregnant women who get stretch marks on their abdomens.

2006: Year in which “muffin top” was named the word of the year in Australia for evoking the roll of flesh that hangs over a woman’s low waistband.

169,314: Number of tummy tucks performed in 2005, a 497 percent increase since 1997. [via]