We are living in the age of the selfie. I admit- I do love the odd selfie or even the odd “brelfie“- it breaks up my instagram feed a bit, you know? So it’s not just adorable kid/cat/food pictures.

Anyway, I recently read about this stunning lingerie model called Sarah Stage, who, like many of us, is a committed instagram selfie poster, and has been documenting her pregnancy.

Image via Instagram

And why wouldn’t she be?

Her instagram account has 1.3 million followers, many of whom appear to have surpassed medical experts and have been able to offer lots of advice and helpful comments about her physique and pregnancy based on photos alone. Some examples:

“doesn’t look normal. Doesn’t look like its gonna be a normal sized baby”

“eep is that even healthy”

“wtf is that? Lol shes gonna have a little bitty ass baby. I’m worried for her ass.”

“Anyone realize she is harming the baby by not eating ?”

“The baby is more important than your body . Please eatttt”

“wow…are you pergnet”

“Please this is not amazing. The baby is too small she is not eating enougth this ia not healthy”

“U arent supposed to work out when ur pregnant..stupid fk ur poor baby is compressed by abs lol”

(To clarify, these comments are reproduced here as posted. Not my typos!)

This is really no better than the “concern” leveled at plus size models like Tess Holliday. The simple fact is that Sarah Stage’s health is a matter for her and her health care providers to look after.

If Sarah shares a pic of her body- she gets concern-trolled. If she shares a pic eating- she’s accused of not really eating the food.

Image via Instagram

It seems like no matter what your body type is, if you are a woman, you body is up for public scrutiny. Sarah Stage hasn’t invited this scrutiny and negativity by sharing her pictures any more than anyone else with an instagram account.

You may look at her pictures and wonder how she does it. I did. That’s okay. Looking through them, I see that she’s eating healthy food and exercising. Question answered. She’s a model. Her body is her bread and butter, so to speak. It looks like she was slim and toned before her pregnancy and still is. Good for her! Good for anyone who shares those traits!

The defined abdominal muscles that have stayed defined for the last 30 odd weeks of her pregnancy have caused quite a stir, however, and now the US Cosmopolitan mag has published and article with the tag line:

You can have insane abs during pregnancy- here’s how.

But really, can you? Is it really possible for everyone to have pregnancy abs? Are there really that many women who have the type of body that will retain sculpted abdominal muscles throughout 40 odd weeks of growing an entire human being inside of their bodies? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that I, for one, don’t buy it.

Cosmo consulted a personal trainer for this article who says her six pack was back within days of giving birth. She also says she was back teaching exercise classes within days of giving birth, despite most doctors recommending a 4-6 week break. Not my cup of tea but hey, we’re all different.

Is this realistic for most of us? No. No it is not. Neither is striving for pregnancy abs! Is it not enough that we are constantly inundated with faces and bodies so digitally enhanced that they are unattainable? That we are expected to bounce right back after pregnancy into the exact same shape we were before?

I say getting pregnancy abs is another thing we can add to the list of crap we should not have to worry about. Not now, not ever.

My List.

Whatever your size or shape, when pregnant, your body is doing something awesome and the last thing you should feel like you need to stress over is how your bloody abs look!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT