Anfisa Nava made her start on the hit TLC show 90 Day Fiancé back in 2016, but these days she’s trying to make a name for herself in the bodybuilding world. She made an impressive transformation ahead of her first NPC bikini competition in June, but not everyone is a fan of the Russian-born reality TV star’s new physique.

While most of her fans have showered her with compliments and called her an inspiration, Nava has also been hit with the sort of comments that many female athletes receive on social media. Some have questioned why a woman would want to gain muscle and have “guys muscles and abs,” and others have accused her of going too far with her transformation. Others decided it was appropriate to insinuate that the bikini athlete has an eating disorder.

Such comments have prompted her to respond via Instagram a few times now, most recently in a post where she says she feels more feminine than ever.

“They say ‘Muscles make you look manly’… I personally have never felt more feminine and happy than I do now. It’s all about how you feel on the inside and not what you look like on the outside,” she wrote in the post.

She got serious about strength training after her husband, Jorge Nava, was found with 293 pounds of marijuana and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in December 2018.

“To fill the void that I felt after Jorge was sentenced and I was left on my own I decided to try to stay busy and do what I enjoy the most and it was working out,” she wrote in an Instagram post in December, according to US Weekly. “And ONE DAY I want to take it on a higher level and compete in NPC bikini division.”

She hit her goal to compete in bikini at the 2019 NPC West Coast Classic, where she took second in the novice and true novice categories and placed fifth in the open class D.

At the NPC Patriots Challenge, her second show, Nava took first place overall in the bikini category. So regardless of the general public’s opinion of her sculpted physique, Nava has certainly proven her dedication and talent as far as the bodybuilding community is concerned.

With more than 469,000 followers on Instagram, Nava has a huge platform to influence fans outside the bodybuilding community, and it’s great to see her using it to spread positivity. Follow her on Instagram at @anfisanava_ to keep up with her journey.