Scarlett Johansson Diet and Workout

The Internet is currently rife with rumors that Scarlett Johansson (recently separated and filed for divorce from super fit actor Ryan Reynolds) is pregnant (see pictures below) with new “unconfirmed” boyfriend Sean Penn’s baby. True? Or just publicity for the new “Avengers” (2012) movie that just started filming this month (which Scarlett will be returning in her role as the “Black Widow?”) Either way, Scarlett Johansson is the kind of woman who constantly gets noticed for her body. If you want to know more about Scarlett Johansson’s diet and workout and how to get a similar look – then keep reading!

How to Get a Body like Scarlett Johansson

For the most part, Scarlett has always had a really soft, curvy look. Before Iron Man 2 – I think its safe to say that Scarlett rarely dieted or exercised more than occasionally. Notice there is no muscle definition at all in her arms, no visible indentation in her chest, no ab definition – all of this indicates that at most Scarlett watches what she eats and does some cardio to stay the size she feels happiest at. (If you like this kind of look, check out a program like Visual Impact for Women.)

Is this really the picture of a newly pregnant woman? I can’t tell you. But what I can say is – when you aren’t super lean (as Scarlett is not – with the exception of her look for Iron Man 2 as “Black Widow”) – its next to impossible not to have a little tummy. (Interestingly, thin clingy clothes tend to make small bellies more obvious than wearing nothing at all – its because the fabric itself bunches up and makes the area look worse.)

The reason people see pictures like this and are then shocked, is that they really don’t understand how much Hollywood relies upon bodyshapers like Spanx to suck in problem areas (even Gwyneth Paltrow wears these – in fact she wore TWO at once right after having a baby), plus flattering clothes, flattering poses (notice Scarlett usually has one arm crossed over her stomach – this is not random), Photoshopped pictures, etc in order to look magically perfect.

Spanx!

For the most part, Scarlett is able to get away with minimal workouts and still look beautiful on the red carpet because she has naturally good proportions (her upper body and lower body are essentially the same size) and is never more than a couple tweaks away from appearing the perfect sexy bombshell.

No tummy visible - don't think there isn't a body shaper under there somewhere...

Other curvy stars like Jennifer Lopez – lift weights and train all the time -

Jennifer clearly lifts weights – notice the definition in her arms and abs. While extra body fat might stay in Jennifer’s lower half, her upper body is a lot leaner than Scarlett’s. The difference between the two women is mainly that Jennifer does not have even body fat distribution – a disproportionate amount of fat is stored in the star’s famous backside (pretty much no matter how hard she works out.)

For the most part, where your fat ends up is hormonal. There are diet and exercise techniques that you can use to reduce stubborn body fat, it does work but takes a lot of hard work and dedication to see results. (The only program I really recommend for this is Final Phase Fat Loss - don’t be put off by the fact the program looks designed for bodybuilders – this is pretty much the only quality program available that addresses stubborn body fat for men and women. You can read more about stubborn fat in this earlier post.)

Otherwise, if you are not happy with the size of one trouble area over another – you can lift weights to build up your smaller areas – like Jennifer Lopez – (in women this is usually your shoulders – making your shoulders a little more defined will make your waist and hips look smaller by comparison. Venus Index has a lot of good programming to deal specifically with these kinds of issues.)

Scarlett Johansson Workout for Iron Man 2

Curvy women can get lean – its just takes a lot of work and it can be a little tricky if you want to keep at least some of your curves. For Iron Man 2, Scarlett Johansson worked out with celebrity trainer Bobby Strom (trainer to Ryan Reynolds…) – workouts were held for 90 minutes seven days a week and included – cardio intervals, body sculpting cardio weight circuits, bodyweight circuits, and more cardio intervals!

To learn more about how to do cardio weight circuits and cardio intervals – click here. These two types of fat burning and lean muscle sculpting workouts are so effective that I ended up putting the information how how EXACTLY to do these kinds of workouts into one single post.

Body Sculpting Weight Training

Many women think they will get better results from their workout programs if they just do cardio and diet. Most likely this comes from past experience – if you train the wrong muscles and don’t burn as many calories as you *think* – its easy to spend a lot of time workout out only to add bulk in your arms and thighs. This is extremely frustrating.

The truth is – as long as you are keeping you calories low (more on that below) – weight training will help you preserve muscle while you are dieting. This is what will prevent you from looking like a deflated tire when you are done dieting. Additionally, some women will want to train to preserve curves. Its one thing to lose fat and get lean, its another to end up with pancake butt after 3 months of hard work.

Exercises like chin ups, lunges, and Romanian deadlifts (and the plyometric exercises listed further below) will keep shape where you want to keep shape – not make you thick and bulky. (Again, Venus Index has the best information on how to strategically add muscle to look smaller and more proportionate, while Visual Impact is my go to guide for the “no muscle look. You can check either option out if that is what you are looking for.)

Chin ups

Note – chin ups can be difficult for many women. Consider doing assisted chin ups with a strap or reverse chin ups instead.

Overhead Shoulder Press

Great for anyone with narrow shoulders who wants to balance out wider hips.

Lunges

Single Leg Deadlift

If you are looking for a smart strength training/fat loss program – I like the new Superhero workout by John Romaniello (with Flavia Del Monte pictured below) -

The Superhero workout is a three phase workout program designed by fitness trainers who really do train male and female action stars for movies in real life – which I think is pretty cool. The women’s portion of this program focuses on building strength and shredding fat. All good stuff…)

Scarlett Johansson Diet

Trainer Bobby Strom emphasized that diet is truely key to seeing real body transformation results. Scarlett’s Black Widow diet included three small meals and two-three snacks per day. Typical foods included lean turkey breast, brown rice, steamed vegetables, and salad. Approved snacks were low calorie protein shakes, non fat greek yogurt, 6-8 almonds, and fresh fruit.

Common Diet Mistakes

1. You think you are eating less than you are. This is why you “diet” all the time and yet don’t lose any weight. This means you need to really look closely at how much you are eating.

First of all, figure out approximately how many calories you burn per day.

Here is a simple way -

Bodyweight x (hours spent working out per week + 9.5) = calories burned per day

135 x (4 +9.5) = 135 x 13.5 = 1822.5 calories burned per day.

This is an estimate of how many calories you can eat per day and NOT lose any weight. Eat more – you gain weight. Eat less, you lose weight. (Keep in mind that this number is just an estimate to get you started, you may actually be burning fewer calories per day. Try eating at this level for a week and see if you gain weight, lose weight, or stay the same. Then adjust your calories up or down.)

Ideally, you do not want to cut your calories lower than 40% of daily calories burned. 25-30% is probably the best point to aim for. Eating more calories while dieting is really the best way to lose weight. You will of course, still feel somewhat deprived but the urge to eat should be controllable. Additionally, smaller calorie deficits also result in less muscle mass loss and more fat loss. Win win.

The next biggest problem people run into is simply eating more than their calorie target without realizing it. This can be due to eating portion sizes that are a little too big (this will creep up over time if you aren’t careful), adding small bites of higher calorie foods that add up (little sprinkles of sugar or squirts of butter), or even eating entire snacks and forgetting about it.

The simplest solution is to cut back on your food a little bit overall (versus assuming you have some sort of metabolic problem.) Odds are you are still eating just a little too much. (Or if you’d rather, add 15min of cardio per day and see if that gets you back in weight loss mode.)

2. You eat too little all day and then binge in the afternoon and evening.

Here are some tips on how to avoid binge eating from Holly at Fit Yummy Mummy (works for anyone – not just Moms…)

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to check out Venus Index, Superhero workout, Fit Yummy Mummy, or Visual Impact for Women on the way out!