Personal trainer Oxana Rumyantseva is the latest pregnant woman to be targeted by the Instagram bump police. In an interview with The New York Daily News on Friday, July 22, Rumyantseva, who is 39 weeks along with her fourth child — a girl — revealed that she has been called “selfish” and accused of starving her unborn baby.
One commenter went as far as to ask the runner, who has nearly 58,000 followers on Instagram, “How would you feel if you fell flat on your stomach and miscarried?”
Rumyantseva shared a side-by-side comparison of her first pregnancy and fourth pregnancy in a July 24 Instagram post. In the first, her bump is noticeably larger. “22 years and 33,” she wrote. “First and forth #pregnancy the same time. I gained 48 lb during my first. Ate like a pig was afraid to exercise. I had a lot of problems with my legs, my back, swelling. I was always tired. Now I’m not so young, but full of energy.”
According to The New York Daily News, the Miami based-mom exercises four times a week split between cardio and strength training — a regimen that her obstetrician approved.
“A lot of people think that pregnancy is like a disease and think you should spend it lying in bed, but that’s not healthy,” the 33-year-old told the paper. “I need to be healthy and strong and to have energy for my big family.”
Rumyantseva isn’t the first Instagram fitness star to be bullied for the size of her baby bump. Chontel Duncan made headlines in March after posing tummy-to-tummy with her friend Nat, who was four weeks further along in her pregnancy. Addressing the difference in their belly sizes, Duncan noted: “Each woman carries differently, and this most certainly doesn’t mean one is doing something wrong or not healthy. We both have healthy growing babies, and we both have had incredible pregnancies so far, feeling amazing and full of energy.”
