Mum Loses Baby Weight By Jogging Eight Miles A Day With Double Buggy

Mum Loses Baby Weight By Jogging Eight Miles A Day With Double Buggy
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If you find it a struggle to get out of bed for the school run, let alone go to the gym every day, cast a glance sideways at mum-of-three Marcela Gracova, aka The Running Mum.

The 30-year-old has become a regular and eyebrow-raising sight on the streets of Cambridge where she jogs eight miles a day – while pushing a double buggy with her two youngest children on board!

Marcela, from Brampton, Cambridgeshire, took up her extreme jogging as a way to get rid of her baby weight whilst also spending quality time with her children.

While many new mums might consider cutting down on the biscuits and chocolate cake, keen runner Marcela opted for a more drastic solution to shrink down from the size 14 she'd become after giving birth to her three children, Ivanna, eight, Isabelle, five, and Peter, two.

So when her youngest was just 11 days old she started running again.

Marcela said: "I couldn't wait to get out of the house, I was the heaviest I've ever been and I wanted to finally shift the weight.

"I started running when Isabella was eight months old but had to stop whilst I was pregnant again.

"I was craving oranges and watermelons to begin with but by the end of the pregnancy I was eating loads of junk and takeaways.

"I've always been an outdoors person, I don't like being stuck inside for very long and I was itching to get my running shoes back on.

"I began by running on my own, but my partner Peter, 35, works shifts and it became increasingly difficult as I couldn't leave the children alone.

"I didn't want to give up something I had become so passionate about so I decided to take the double buggy with Isabelle and Peter in it."

Marcela can now run over a staggering eight miles a day with her children in tow, she's now a size eight and weighs 9st.

She said: "I tried dieting after I had Ivanna, my first baby, but I stopped eating as much as I should and I became extremely tired.

"Now I eat healthily but simply exercise as well. I'm a competitive person and it makes me feel good being thinner and fitter.

"Running with the buggy is harder than it looks, Peter has tried before and struggled, it takes balance and co-ordination."

Marcela has become known as 'Super Mummy' to both her children and some of the locals. She runs into town to get her food shopping, to go to the children's play group and sometimes just to get some fresh air.

She said: "Running excites me, I get such a buzz every time I put my running shoes on.

"The kids love when we go for a run, when they see me putting my running shoes on their little faces light up."

Marcela has been running for over five years now and doesn't plan to stop any time soon. She has just entered herself into the Milton Keynes half marathon – but she'll be running it alone!