Athlete compares her 39-week bump to plus-size model Tess Holliday's

Just ask Kardashian-in-waiting Blac Chyna and Aussie Instagram personality Hannah Polites.

This week, two super-fit pregnant women are fighting back.

First up is pregnant endurance athlete Brittnay Aäe who's hitting out at the haters who ‘mum shame’ pregnant women.

Brittany took to Instagram to show two very different late pregnancy bumps: her own 39-week bump alongside plus-size supermodel Tess Holliday’s. Brittany wanted to highlight how you can't win. If your preg body doesn't fit the 'norm' (whatever that is), you can be criticised for being too big or too small.

She began:

“In this image these two women are at about the same stage in their pregnancies - 39 weeks.

“That is the gorgeous @tessholliday looking boss on the left and me with the defined abs on the right.

“She is a voluptuous model and I am a sinewy mountain athlete.

“Both of us are shamed for our size - she for her roundness and me for my smallness.”

Brittany then goes on to make a very valid point – that, as far as we know, medical professionals deemed both pregnancies healthy. So why are their sizes anyone's concern?

“Both of us are having or had healthy pregnancies as validated by our healthcare providers. Both of us are making empowered choices about our personal health.

“Why does our society shame women whose bodies do not adhere to some narrow notion of false normalcy?

“Let's instead keep our thoughts and words about other people's size to ourselves.

“Pregnancy is tough enough without also being body shamed. #effyourbeautystandards #momshame”

We’re very much on board with this way of thinking.

There’s so much to think about when you're pregnant – most of which involves keeping our babies (and ourselves) as healthy as possible.

Dealing with negative comments and assumptions from strangers definitely doesn’t help.

But that's not all...

Brittany’s post comes around the same time as a similar thought-provoking post from pregnant fitness model Kayleigh Obert.

The fitness fan shared an amazing bump pic on Instagram and told her 8k followers that she’d experienced a lot of mixed comments about her figure.

The main thing Kayleigh was struggling to understand was why anyone thought it was ok to say these things.

She also pointed out that in her case, it was mostly men making these comments.

Here’s her post in full:

“Long Post: since the beginning of my pregnancy I've struggled with what others think is ok to say to me.

"It started with:

• Your body will never be the same
• You need to eat more - your baby is going to malnourished
• You're pregnant, just eat whatever you want
• Wow ,you've really grown
• How's my fat friend?
• Wow, you're really big - you won't make it to your due date
• Should you be lifting still?
• Good luck getting back to pre-pregnancy

“And finally last night the worst yet

• You're chubby, I've never seen you chubby, it's funny!

“That was the last of what I could handle on the way home with my husband I started crying (which is SUPER rare for me).

“Since when did it become ok to say things like this to people, pregnant or not?

“I have never done this to anyone. And most of these are from men.

“Just wanted to share & remind people that even if something seems funny or a joke to you doesn't mean it's ok to say especially to a pregnant woman. #bekind”

What we think...

You know, this really reminds us of something McFly star Tom Fletcher was saying when his wife Giovanna’s post-baby body became a target for trolls.

People really should think about what they’re saying when it comes to weight, size and pregnant women.

Our bumps might be big, our bumps might be small, our pre and post-baby bodies might not fit into whatever belongs in the so-called 'normal’ category...

But nothing will EVER compare to the size of the foot someone puts in their mouth when they make these judgmental comments.

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Have you experienced anything like this? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.

Images: Instagram / Brittany Aae / Kayleigh Obert / Tess Holliday

Read more:

• Tom Fletcher: 'Everyone should be aware of what they say to pregnant women'
• Giovanna Fletcher body-shamed just 11 days after giving birth
• Mums whose amazing bump compare pics go viral reveal their babies!