#PrincessBootCamp – Pocahontas Week Fitness Plan

Disney Princess Boot Camp fitness blog post nerds Pocahontas Week

June 14, 2017 | LizT.

Pocahontas is easily the fittest Princess in the bunch. She climbs willow trees, canoes rivers, free runs through the forest and swims. This week I did as much of that as I could with my main focus being on running and canoeing.

This is my canoe, her name is Grandmother Willow. There is a lake with all kinds of canals leading to other lakes right near my apartment. I strapped Grandmother Willow to my roof and we went canoeing 4 days this week.

As an added bonus this week, I took a class at Orange Theory Fitness. They offer a free 1-hour trial class and since they incorporate a rowing machine, treadmill and free weights, I thought it would be a perfect addition for Pocahontas Week. I was right! This class is a hard hitting, interval workout that and hits every muscle group. I walked away pleasantly sore and I believe it would be a great class to incorporate into a weekly schedule. But I couldn’t sign up, because I had other princesses to focus on.

#PrincessBootCamp – Pocahontas Week Meal Plan

Disney Princess Boot Camp nerd blog post Pocahontas Week fitness meal plan

June 12, 2017 | LizT.

Week 3 has begun and it’s all about Pocahontas.

Pocahontas is a great Princess to find fitspiration with and incidentally she is the Disney Princess I find myself relating to most. (No one is making a case for historical accuracy here. Favorite things often defy reason and logic!) Pocahontas is free-spirited, strong, fiercely independent and has her own way of looking at life that often contradicts her upbringing.

The older I get, the more I feel like Pocahontas sometimes. I don’t always fit in with “the way of things.” I’m over 30 and unmarried and sometimes I feel like life is waiting for me “Just Around the Riverbend.”

This week, particularly, I felt very connected to the fitness that I was doing and the foods that I was eating. This week’s meal plan is based on what Native Americans were eating in the early 16th century. Here’s a look at Pocahontas Week shopping list:

-lobster, oysters, shrimp

-corn

-berries (black, rasp, blue, straw)

-nuts and seeds (peanuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc)

-pumpkin

-wild game (I don’t like game meats, so I substituted pork and called it wild boar!)

-beans

-honey

-wild rice

-eggs

-greens

This shopping list offered a lot of variety and I felt so healthy this week because everything was very natural. This is a week to appreciate what the Earth can give us in the way of natural foods. Mother Earth provides everything we could ever need. And I had no desire or cravings for processed or refined foods. I started to feel much better in my own skin.

I still haven’t checked to see how much weight I’ve actually lost, as far as numbers on a scale go. But I started to find myself wondering about it less and less and actually focusing on how much healthier I was feeling. How much more I appreciated my muscles after working them. I took note of the way the different foods I was eating made me feel and discovered that dairy wasn’t sitting so well with me and quickly decided to cut it out altogether. Something amazing happens when you listen to your body…it starts communicating with you. That was new!

#PrincessBootCamp – Ariel Week Inspo

Disney Princess Boot Camp Little Mermaid Week fitness inspiration nerd blog post

June 8, 2017June 8, 2017 | LizT.

This week’s playlist is full of songs you’d expect to be on the list like “Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea,” and of course “Kiss the Girl,” but you’ll also see a little Hunchback of Notre Dame on the list, some Pirates of the Caribbean and basically any song I could get my hands on that was about water, the ocean, kissing and the Sea. Enjoy this music as you swim your way to better health this week!

Hoist the Colours – Hans Zimmer
Fathoms Below – The Little Mermaid Broadway Cast
Water – Pentatonix
The Ocean and the Sea – Wilderado
Daughters of Triton – The Little Mermaid
Part of Your World – Jodi Benson
Out There – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Under the Sea – Samuel E. Wright
Poor Unfortunate Souls – Pat Carroll
Evil Woman – Electric Light Orchestra
Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) – Billy Ocean
Nightswimming – R.E.M.
Seaside – The Kooks
Jump in the Pool – Friendly Fires
By the Sea – Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter
Beaches – Moon Taxi
One Step Closer – The Little Mermaid Broadway Cast
Tenerife Sea – Ed Sheeran
Rowing Song – Patty Griffin
Rock the Boat – Aaliyah
Kiss the Girl – Samuel E. Wright
Kiss Me Slowly – Parachute
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – Coldplay
Lost! – Coldplay
Swim Until You Can’t See Land – Frightened Rabbit
New Love – Gavin DeGraw
We Found Love – Rihanna, Calvin Harris
Marry Me – Train

Here’s a selection of movies to watch that will keep you swimming…

The Little Mermaid

Obviously the movie that features this week’s Disney Princess is first up on the watch list. But as I’ve mentioned before, she is not my favorite Disney Princess by a long shot. Still, I do consider this a Disney classic from early Disney heydays. And the music comes in higher on my favorites list than Ariel herself. If you haven’t watched it in a long time, give it a look with grown up eyes. It’s tough to justify her falling in love at first sight, abandoning her God given body and family and making a deal with a sea witch to lose her voice for mere days in the presence of the man she loves. I guess I’ve gotten a little more cynical as I’ve grown up, but I just can’t give Ariel a pass on this one.

Splash

SPLASH!! Classic 80’s movie right here featuring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks. This is the mermaid movie that beats all mermaid movies in my mind! A young boy (Tom Hanks) almost drowns off the coast of Cape Cod and is rescued by a mermaid. That boy grows up and is reunited with the mermaid who saved him as a kid, but she’s all grown up and has shiny new legs. He falls in love with her, blissfully unaware of the secret she keeps about her true origins. When an eccentric scientist (Eugene Levy) outs Madison to her one true love and to the rest of the city of New York, Allen (Hanks) will race to save her from the people who will experiment on her and treat her life a lab rat. Will she choose to remain on land or return to the sea where she belongs?

Aquamarine

This mermaid movie is a fluffy, pink, teeny bopper romp that is pure fun and frivolity. Don’t look deeper than the surface. It’s cheesy and adorable, just accept! Chock full of the kind of fish out of water hijinks that includes, not being able to walk correctly with brand new human legs, falling down a lot, reacting inappropriately to normal human situations and phrases like “There’s something fishy about that girl.” My one small beef with the frothy comedy is that Aquamarine sets her sights on the boy of Emma Roberts’ dreams which breaks all kinds of Girl Codes. Just give that fish a different love interest, that’s all I’m saying!

Hook

Another classic that deserves it’s place on all kinds of lists and makes this one due to the very limited use of mermaids and the fantastical nature of Neverland. Hook is a retelling of the beloved J.M. Barrie story Peter Pan. Only this time Peter (Robin Williams) is a middle aged lawyer who was left in the land of men and has forgotten who he truly is. When he ends up in Neverland to save his children from the evil clutches of the maniacal and strangely humorous Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) the Lost Boys will teach him who he truly is before he can have a chance to bring his family back. And…there are mermaids in one scene! 🙂

Peter Pan

Same goes for the classic Disney animated version of Peter Pan. There are mermaids in Neverland so I used that as an excuse to put it on the list this week. This version is a faithful adaptation of the classic story. Peter meets Wendy, John and Michael. He brings them to Neverland. We meet the Lost Boys and Tiger Lily. Captain Hook is bad and there is a ticking crock who is looking for some Hook meat. It’s fun, it’s classic and oh yeah…occasional mermaid sightings!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Look, I’m not saying this is the best of the Pirates’ movies. I’m not even saying it’s a very good movie. Jack Sparrow works best when he is helping the Turner Family (Pirates 5 is far more enjoyable!) What I’m saying is that mermaid tears are a necessary ingredient when in pursuit of the Fountain of Youth. And that is just what everyone is searching for in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa and the dreaded Blackbeard are all in a race to drink from the cup that gives eternal youth along with the British Empire and the Spanish Armada. First…mermaid tears and a scene depicting mermaids as truly scary creatures from the deep. They sing you pretty songs, entice you to the edge of your boat and then drag you to a watery grave. Except for Syrena (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), the mermaid that falls in love with the young cleric (Sam Caflin) who happens to be along for the ride. Not a great movie, but there are only so many mermaid films to work with here.

Blue Crush

Which brings us to a decidedly un-mermaidy movie. Blue Crush has a special place in my heart. It came out when I was in college and fervently dreamed of running away to Hawaii and becoming a surfer girl. Ocean…strong, athletic females….love story…it works for Little Mermaid week and is still a stronger love story than The Little Mermaid’s! (Come @ me!) I still dream of being a surfer one day because of this movie, but it certainly is dated in the early 00’s and if you are coming to it with fresh eyes, don’t get too excited about it’s quality. You have been warned!

Do you have any movies you feel should make the list for Ariel Week? Let me know!

#PrincessBootCamp – Ariel Week Fitness Plan

Disney Princess Boot Camp The Little Mermaid Ariel fitness nerd post

June 7, 2017 | LizT.

One of my first orders of business last week (Cinderella Week) was to clean my parent’s pool and deck to get it ready for Ariel Week. One Princess helping another one out! With Cinderella’s hard work behind me, I was ready to dive in and get my swim on.

As a native Floridian, I’m no stranger to swimming. I love swimming, but I’ve never done it as a workout before and boy did it kick my ass!

This week, as I was eating fish and channeling my inner mermaid spirit, you could find me in my parent’s pool in the mornings. And let me tell you, Ariel week was in January…so that pool was frigid. Instead of being off putting, I found it strangely invigorating.

Since swimming is the only activity I chose to do for Ariel Week, I had to find ways to create variety in a single activity. I did some research on the different kinds of strokes and styles that swimmers do and tried to a little bit of each stroke every day I was working out (4 days a week.)

Here are the strokes I did:

-Breast stroke

-Back stroke

-Doggy paddle

-Butterfly stroke

-Front Crawl

-Mermaid Stroke (I made this one up)

Each day I swam, I did as many laps as I could of one style till my body started to get sluggish and my pace started to slow, then I’d switch to another stroke or style and on and on till I’d hit around 60 minutes of swimming.

It was slow going at first, but by day 4 I really started to feel stronger. I could go longer with each style and my rhythm and breathing improved. On the weekend, I added a bonus day at the beach so I could try some of the strokes and styles out in the ocean itself (home of all mermaids.) It was much more difficult to do in the freezing January ocean waves, but it was a fun challenge that I had spent the week preparing for and was able to handle.

Swimming is an activity that I decided would make an appearance in future workout schedules because I enjoyed it so much and saw quick results with consistency and that was just one week. Imagine what a month of swimming could accomplish.

#PrincessBootCamp – Ariel Week Meal Plan

Princess Boot Camp Ariel Week Disney Fitness Blog

June 6, 2017June 6, 2017 | LizT.

I made it through Cinderella Week, ready and energized to head into Week 2. If you missed all that Week 1 had to offer CLICK HERE.

Week 2 I looked Under the Sea to Ariel:

Now, to be honest with you, while I have loved the movie, The Little Mermaid, since I was a little girl, as a grown woman I’ve got problems up and down with Ariel as a Disney Princess and role model heroine.

The Little Mermaid is the story of a mermaid princess who is unhappy in her royal circumstance. She wants to see what is beyond the borders of the ocean into the world of men. But guess what…she doesn’t have legs or the ability to be on land for extended periods of time. It doesn’t help that she saves a hunky sailor, Prince Eric, from certain death and falls instantly in love with him.

After making a deal with an evil octopedal sea witch, she is given mere days to make the handsome Prince fall in love with her or else doom herself to returning to the sea (where she lives, grew up and has a loving family.) The catch is…she must head to land with no voice to aid in her quest. That doesn’t stop Prince Eric from finding her on the beach, taking her into his home, almost kissing her and starting to fall in love with her. So many issues. And yet so many fun songs and memorable moments that have stayed with me from childhood.

Who among us doesn’t want to live the #mermaidlife? That’s not to say Ariel doesn’t have redeeming qualities. She has bravery and purpose driven ambition to see beyond her borders. These days we call that wanderlust. The whole ocean is her palace and yet she dreams of dancing and walking and strolling down the street. These things we humans take for granted. (That’s really stretching to give her redemption as a character, but hey, I tried!) Here’s a funny Buzzfeed post poking fun at this beloved Disney Classic (there is language in this post.)

Obviously for a Ariel Week Meal Plan, we’re gonna be looking to the sea. Here is week 2’s shopping list:

-fresh fish (tilapia, salmon, sea bass, grouper, etc)

-scallops

-shrimp

-lobster

-crab

-sushi is an option this week

-fruits (I stuck with more tropical fruits like starfruit, pineapple and mango)

-veggies (seaweed, lettuce, spinach, cabbage)

-coconut oil (for cooking)

-coconut and seaweed snacks

-fruit infused water

There are extensive debates about a typical mermaid diet. Would Ariel have eaten fish and lobster given that her two best friends were a fish (Flounder) and a lobster (Sebastian)? You can decide for yourself if you want to go ocean vegan or not. I didn’t. Lobster best friend…look away!!

Whether you go vegan or not, may I specifically recommend these delicious vegan snacks as options this week: Go Raw Coconut Crisps & Sea Gift’s Roasted Sea Weed Snacks. I tried to stay as natural as I could, but sometimes throughout the day you just need a crunchy snack. These 2 products are delicious and won’t ruin any progress you’re making.

#PrincessBootCamp – Cinderella Week Wrap Up

Princess Boot Camp Disney Inspiration Fitness Plan Blog Series

June 4, 2017June 5, 2017 | LizT.

One week can’t change your whole body. One week isn’t enough time to meet aggressive goals, like the ones I’d created for myself. But one week can start you down a better path. One week can wake you up to a better life. I don’t like to call this a diet…it’s not one. It’s a lifestyle. Now, am I going to live like this for the rest of my life? No. Will this work for everyone? No. Did I find success doing it? Yes. And the point is to share that success with you!

Because when I created it, I had no idea what would happen. But I learned that my success came from diving in with both feet and taking this challenge seriously. Success came from constantly staying in a Cinderella state of mind through my Food Plan, Fitness Plan, Movies and Music, and Fashion choices.

As I mentioned in my introduction, I gave up weighing myself for the whole of this 8 weeks. So, I can’t tell you how much weight I lost after the first week, but I know my arms felt stronger from cleaning and weeding and lifting. My legs were pleasantly sore from stairs and dancing. Sugar had no hold on me after this week and while I continued to take each day as they came, I started to believe that I could meet the goals I’d set for myself. It felt like I’d really created something that ensured a successful outcome for me. As a major league Disnerd, a fitness series based on Disney Princesses is right up my alley!

Next Post: Ariel Week Begins

#PrincessBootCamp – Cinderella Week Fashion Inspo

June 4, 2017 | LizT.

When I’m in the middle of a fitness series, especially one that has such a specific theme, I like to do all I can to stay in theme, as you could tell from my other blog posts this week. The foods I ate reflected Cinderella, the movies I watched, the music I listened to, the fitness activities I did and since I do consider myself a fashionable person, my fashion reflected Cinderella this week too. From my workout clothes to my nails and beyond.

Work, work, work, work, work…

Top Knot…

On the steps of the palace…

Cinderella Week Disney Princess Boot Camp fitness nerd blog post — Photo by Cristina Fowler @thelittlestfowler

Nailed it…

Tea Time…

Dancing through life….

After the ball…

Squad goals…

Happily Ever After…

Is there something that helps you focus on your goals?

#PrincessBootCamp – Cinderella Week Inspo

June 3, 2017 | LizT.

Movies and music are where I tend to draw the majority of my inspiration. And Disney is a treasure trove of both. Starting with music, here is my complete playlist for Cinderella Week available on Spotify! I used it for my stair runs and throughout the week to keep me thinking happy fairytale thoughts. Play from start to finish for a musical story telling or shuffle it up. Your choice!

There are plenty of Cinderella movies and adaptations out there to watch during Cinderella Week that will keep you in an Ella state of mind…

Here are my favorite ones:

Cinderella (1950)

Obviously we have to start at the very beginning, a very good place to start! In 1950, Cinderella made her debut on the big screen as Disney second resident princess. And her tale has lasted decades! And while there are plenty of lovely remakes on this list, this classic telling will always hold a place in my heart.

Cinderella (2015)

As far as adaptations go, this live action remake that came out in 2015 is absolute perfection. Lily James was just coming out of her Downton Abbey success and was primed for a great role! And she got it in Cinderella. With an accompanying prince in the form of Rob Stark himself (Richard Madden) playing the dashing and ever so handsome Kit. Where the cartoon glosses over the nuances of a relationship built in a night, the live action fills in the space beautifully and offers an extra chance encounter to get sparks flying. This deserves it’s place in the Disney vault! Though I can’t end this blurb without saying something about Cate Blanchett’s evil stepmother. She puts a shudder down your spine with just a look. The true mark of an excellent Disney villain!

Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)

Diving right in to the musicals, we have Roger + Hammerstein’s 1965 Cinderella featuring Leslie Ann Warren. This musical actually debuted on TV in 1957 with none other than Julie Andrews. This is not my favorite Cinderella musical adaptation (look to the next entry for that one) but it is enjoyable and the chemistry between Leslie Ann Warren and her Prince Charming, Stuart Damon is delightful!

Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

Let’s first by talking about the year 1997. I was in the 8th grade and Whitney Houston was my idol! I had every Brandy CD and loved Seinfeld. This musical had everything I could ever want. It was cheesy as hell! There’s no way that Whoopi Goldberg + Victor Garber = Paolo Montalbán, but who cares when you’re an 8th grader with a love of all musical things. This movie caught me at the exact right time in my life and will continue to hold a place in my heart!

Ever After

I love, love, love this more realistic telling of the Cinderella story. Drew Barrymore plays the poor, orphaned Danielle who has been living with her horrible step family since her father’s death. Angelica Houston nails the role of evil stepmother. And Dougray Scott plays the very charming prince. Her dress at the ball was a serious prom dress goal for me. This came out in 1998 when I was in the 9th grade.

The Glass Slipper

The Glass Slipper is an adaptation that falls through the cracks for a lot of Cinderella fans. It stars Leslie Caron as a very different kind of Cinderella. She is much more of a tomboy who is very unhappy with her lot in life. She meets who she thinks is an apprentice in the palace, but who is in fact the prince. Given that Caron is an excellent dancer, there’s some great dance numbers in this one and Michael Wilding’s Prince Charles is…well…I know I keep saying they’re all charming, but they are and it’s sort of a requirement, isn’t it!

A Cinderella Story

Oh Chad Michael Murray, you beautiful specimen. In 2004, Hilary Duff was in the midst of her Lizzie McGuire fame and Chad Michael Murray was smack dab in the middle of his One Tree Hill fame. Which made for the perfect pairing in this teen high school comedy about two students at either end of the popularity spectrum at school, falling in love through IM/text and never seeing each other’s faces. Until he asks her to meet him at the school dance at midnight. She shows up as Cinderella, he shows up as Prince Charming, but will he discover that it’s really the “Diner Girl” under all that glamor. Yep, I love this one too!

Cinderfella

I’m pretty biased when it comes to Jerry Lewis movies. I was raised on them! And this adaptation of Cinderella in the form of Cinderfella is a favorite. Poor Fella is orphaned as Cinderella’s often are and left to the ministrations of terrible stepmother and stepbrothers. But he’s got a fairy godfather who’s gonna help him meet the princess. Lewis is an expert physical comedian. My favorite part in this movie is a dance scene he does in the kitchen. Love it!

Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted was based on a book of the same name, so I get a very mixed reaction to this one from people. I happen to love it. Anne Hathaway plays Ella, a girl who was given the gift/curse of obedience by her fairy godmother when she was a baby. When her evil stepsister figures out her secret, she’ll use it against her. When Ella meets the handsome prince who she is determined not to like (but ends up totally liking), she’ll do all she can to save him from the consequences of her gift. This movie has a great cast: Minnie Driver, Hugh Dancy, Lucy Punch, Vivica Fox, Parminder Nagra, Eric Idle, Steve Coogan and the one and only Cary Elwes as the evil Edgar.

If the Shoe Fits

Well, if you’ve never seen this one, you don’t even know what you’re missing. Rob Lowe plays a famous fashion designer, Francesco, who is looking for his perfect muse. Jennifer Grey plays an assistant with big dreams to design the shoes for his fashion shows. But she gets no notice from him till she tries on an enchanted pair of shoes that transform her into the perfect muse for Francesco and hey, a love interest too!!

A Cinderella Christmas

This one has got Hallmark Channel Christmas movie written all over it, though it is an Ion TV original. I’ll let the blurb from the website speak for itself, “At a holiday masquerade ball, fledgling event planner Angie Wells and wealthy playboy Nicholas Karmichael, who needs to marry to retain his inheritance, meet and fall for each other anonymously. While Nicholas tries to locate the girl of his dreams, Angie must choose between pursuing her lifelong dream of running a business or following her heart.” This one has merit purely for the handsome Peter Porte who plays the wealthy playboy Nicholas.

Aladdin

Aladdin is very much a Cinderella story. A poor boy of low circumstance has a magical companion who assists him in changing his appearance so he can go meet the beautiful princess. It’s far more in depth than the classic telling of Cinderella and the genie is by far, my favorite character in all Disney canon. But I added this one to the list for it’s Cinderella overtones and because the movie itself ranks high on my Disney list as well.

Sabrina (1954)

Ah, Sabrina. Not exactly a Cinderella story, but the template is there. A simple chauffeur’s daughter falls in love with the youngest son of her father’s wealthy employer. She goes off to Paris where she is transformed from a gawky girl to a beautiful woman, there’s even a memorable dress involved. This one has a twist, because it isn’t the younger son who turns her head in the end.

Sabrina (1995)

See the notes from the 1954 Hepburn/Bogart edition, because this is a faithful adaptation of that movie. Except it has the ever handsome Harrison Ford as Linus Huckabee and the transformative Julia Ormond as Sabrina. Greg Kinnear rounds out this cast as the younger brother who first steals Sabrina’s heart.

There are plenty of other Cinderella adaptations to choose from, but these are my favorites. Which is yours?

#PrincessBootCamp – Cinderella Week Fitness Plan

Princess Boot Camp Cinderella Week Fitness Blog series Ballroom Dancing

June 2, 2017June 2, 2017 | LizT.

As I mentioned in my Meal Plan Post, Cinderella is an easy Princess to find fitspiration in. She is a hard working girl. And we know she’s fit cause she didn’t even break a sweat running down all those stairs, in high heels no less. Well…high heel!

Here’s what I did for Cinderella Week in regards to a fitness plan. For all 8 weeks of #PrincessBootCamp I challenged myself to work out at least 4 days a week. I could do more, of course. I could even do smaller workouts on some days, but if I got in 4 days of fitness, I considered it a win.

In order to create some variety for myself, I created this list of Cinderella inspired activities to choose from:

-Stairs

-Deep Cleaning (house, yard, garage…whatever you can find)

-Ballroom Dancing (classes, DVD’s, You Tube videos)

Doesn’t matter which activity you choose to do. You can pick all of them or just one that you find yourself enjoying. Me? I chose to do all the activities as much as I could throughout the week. Whenever I had some extra time on my hands I was running the stairs to my apartment or doing a Dancing with the Stars DVD. Anything to keep myself motivated and stay in a Cinderella state of mind.

Gym memberships are really expensive, and Cinderella simply didn’t have one in her budget! So instead, I offered my cleaning services and in turn got a serious workout in. I felt good about helping my parents (a very Cinderella thing to do) and I burnt major calories organizing, weeding, moving boxes, sweeping, etc.

Finally, I took a ballroom dancing class at my local Arthur Murray. I explained to my instructor what I was looking to accomplish and he was so game to teach me the Waltz and Viennese Waltz as well as discuss why Cinderella might have been exposed to those dances specifically. He was also very sad there was no Latin Princess that I could come back and do another lesson for. (Obviously he’s never heard of Elena of Avalor, but unfortunately, she’s not on my list this time around.)

Like I said in my post yesterday, I gave up the scale for this whole 8 weeks and started trusting my body to tell me what it needed, how it felt, what kind of progress we were making together and after week 1…I felt pretty great!

Clean eating had flushed out a lot of the bad stuff that I’d been relying on and broke the hold sugar had on me. I know the first couple pounds are the easiest to lose, but I took that feeling and held on tight!