She Had A Baby-Sized Ovarian Cyst, And People Always Thought She Was Pregnant
If you thought all personal trainers had rock-solid six-packs and zero health issues, you’d be wrong. Megan Johnson (@megan_the_trainer) is a personal trainer, and she’s on TikTok talking about living with diastasis recti, a condition that causes the abdominal muscles to separate.
The 28-year-old is from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and after doing tons of online research, she came to the conclusion that she had diastasis recti.
She believed the condition was causing her symptoms, which included severe bloating and weight gain around her stomach.
People always thought she was pregnant, and it became her biggest insecurity. She usually wore baggy clothes to hide her stomach.
It wasn’t until she shared her story on TikTok that she decided to seek actual medical care based on the encouragement of her followers.
Megan hadn’t been to the doctor in about seven years for several reasons. She had no health insurance, a fear of medical bills, and a history of bad experiences with doctors where she felt dismissed.
In 2021, she noticed that her stomach was getting bigger and wider after forming a cyst that ruptured. Then, she began experiencing severe bloating and weight gain around her stomach two years later. When she learned about diastasis recti, she did her best to manage her condition on her own.
But over the course of five to six months, she noticed drastic growth around her abdomen. She ate a healthy diet and exercised regularly, but nothing seemed to work.
“I’m insecure about being a personal trainer and nutrition coach because it makes me feel like I’m not qualified to help other people in the things that I love,” admitted Megan.
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When she posted a video discussing her struggles in April 2025, people flooded her comments section with their thoughts. Many urged her to seek an official diagnosis and shared personal stories about their own symptoms that made her realize diastasis recti might not be the cause of all her health issues.
“Genuine concern here. I had my diastasis recti surgically removed. My sister had an 11 lb. ovarian cyst. You resemble her WAY more. I urge you to have additional testing to confirm. Wishing you health,”
“Are you sure?? I had a friend who thought the same thing until she had an ultrasound done, and she had an ovarian cyst that was filled with 8 liters of fluid. She lost the ovary obviously, but her stomach was totally flat after she got it removed,”
“I ended up having a 20 lb. ovarian cyst that grew from that big in four months. Looked like I was 20 months pregnant,”
On May 1, Megan went to the emergency room and discovered that she did have diastasis recti, but she also had an ovarian cyst the size of a newborn baby.
It measured up to 48 centimeters. On May 22, doctors surgically removed the cyst and drained out 27 pounds of fluid from her body.
Unfortunately, they also had to remove an ovary and a fallopian tube. The doctors are hopeful that her diastasis recti will heal over time now that the cyst has been removed. Thanks to TikTok, she was able to get her life back and has resolved to keep up with yearly checkups.
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