John:
There is no doubt your abdominals are a little hardier than the rest of your body simply because you use them nearly every time you move. You use them when you stand up, you use them when you sit down and you're even using them every time you take a breath.

However it's important to understand they're still muscles and muscles need rest to recuperate from hard workouts. If you are doing abs every day guess what? You won't be getting the rest needed to reach your potential.

I believe abs should be worked 3 days a week with at least 1 day of rest between each workout. You should concentrate on good form and not how many reps you can do. Most people don't realize how much momentum they use when training their abs. It doesn't make sense to do hundreds of reps when you can get better results in less time. I usually have my clients do 2-3 exercises for 2-3 sets each of 15-30 reps depending on their level. Crunches, leg raises and bicycle crunches are good choices.

I always include an equal amount of lower back work to compliment the abs. Let's not forget your body has a front and a back. Spending all your time working on the side you see when you look in the mirror will only give you half the results. Tightening both will make your waistline look twice as good. It will also help prevent back injuries due to muscle imbalance. A good example of exercises that isolate the lower back are hyper extensions, bird dogs or superman's.

It's would be hard to predict how much weight you would have to lose before your abs will start to show themselves. Every case is different. It would depend on the amount of body fat you're carrying.

Remember the best way to get a better looking waistline is to burn the fat that's covering your abs. In fact those abs won't pop until you've reduced you're body fat to approximately 10%. To accomplish this you'll need to also focus on a proper diet and a sensible cardio program as well as training your abs.

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