Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway‘s changing figure has been grabbing headlines for months now–she endured a 500 calorie per day crash diet for Les Mis, a punishing workout regimen for Dark Knight Rises, and spent the last year consuming “kale and dust” to squeeze into her Catwoman suit. Add to that some draconian detoxes that cause breakouts even as they dehumanize.

Now, her Dark Knight “nutrion coach” Jackie Keller (of Nutrifit) is on the publicity beat, explaining just how strident Hathaway’s meal plan really was.

…Turns out, it wasn’t much of a stretch for Hathaway: the actress was already a strict vegetarian before starting the plan (and one who doesn’t eat fish, eggs or cheese). For Dark Knight, however, Keller loaded her up with superfoods like avocados, almonds, sesame seeds, dark chocolate, “bright red and orange vegetables that are high in antioxidants,” dark leafy greens, ginger, and turmeric… as part of a specially developed anti-inflammatory plan. Because Hathaway was trying to build muscle, she relied on Seitan and tempeh for protein.

And if you want to hear the bland, gory details of Hathaway’s catsuit prep, here’s a breakdown of sample meals, brown rice salads and all:

Some of the actress’s favorite meals while preparing for the film include miso soup, a tempeh club avocado sandwich on gluten-free bread, Tuscan brown rice salad, vegetarian chicken fried steak made with seitan, egg white frittatas, and vegetarian egg rolls. It all sounds super healthy but Keller admits Hathaway is a chocolate person and loved her gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies, and marble cake. While working on Dark Knight Rises, Keller made sure the actress had a dessert every day so she wouldn’t have any cravings. Other sweet fixes Hathaway enjoyed include chocolate power smoothies made with almond milk, and Keller’s Mighty Bars, which she shipped overseas during filming.

From the multiple sources I’ve read and understood, Anne Hathaway was somewhat forced to engage in shorter, more intense workouts, because of a lack of time due to filming.

Shorter, intense workouts are more effective when comprised of compound exercises that activate more muscle, but also require more focus on form and safety.

Often times, when crunched for time, but not the desire to work out, exercises should challenge each major area of the body.

A sample quick workout I often engage in goes as follows:

10 Push-ups
5 Pull ups
10 Air squats

Repeat based on fatigue/muscular ability for 20 minutes

Additionally, the inclusion of high intensity interval training is a smart choice.

High intensity interval training is a more complex way of saying the rotation of high intensity work periods rotated with low intensity rest periods.

For example, in the gym, a simple high intensity interval training workout could go as follows:

Warm-up on bike
60-90 seconds of high intensity work on the bike
90-120 seconds of low-intensity biking or rest

Repeat work/rest period 3-8 times based on expertise

Once again, the prime focus here is on form and safety. There’s no point in pushing yourself beyond limitations if it’s going to cause an injury.