'I changed my whole life to lose 20st - now I have two miracle babies'

'I changed my whole life to lose 20st - now I have two miracle babies' Lauren Smith says chocolate was her 'downfall' as she hit 20st - but a radical change saw her slim down to a healthy weight A woman lost a combined 20st to welcome her two miracle babies. Lauren Smith, 32, and Kenneth, 35, had been trying for children for nearly two years before discovering they both suffered with long-standing fertility problems. Lauren was diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) - a hormonal condition that can impact fertility. They also found out Kenneth had a low sperm count and had a previous undescended testicle when he was 14. But to start IVF, Lauren - who weighed around 20 stone and wore a size 24 - had to lose weight and in two years she dropped 9.5st by swapping fast foods for homemade meals. Due to excess skin, Lauren still didn't qualify for IVF on the NHS so spent around £14,500 with Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM) to welcome their daughter Ella Grace, now six. But Lauren regained the weight in the whirlwind of raising a baby and lost 10.5st, slimming down to a size 12 - by taking up daily walks. The couple underwent IVF again to welcome their son, Reuben, now nearly eight months. Lauren, a nursery manager, from Barnstaple, said: "We tried for around two years before we realised we weren't getting pregnant. We did the standard fertility tests through the NHS. "It wasn't until got diagnosed with PMOS that we also found out my husband also had a low sperm count. The doctors said the only way to become pregnant was through IVF, as we tried Clomid tablets for six months but they didn't work at all." When they were told about their infertility in 2017, the male factor fertility was particularly difficult for the couple to deal with - especially for Kenneth, a sales consultant. Lauren said: "Kenneth's like a typical man, he doesn't like to talk about it. "We found it harder as it's usually one or the other, PMOS or male factor fertility. For us, it was both." When the couple started to investigate IVF, they learnt that Lauren's BMI was too high to be eligible for treatment on the NHS. Desperate to become a mum, Lauren started her weight-loss journey in September 2017 and shed nine stone. She said: "Being overweight myself, to qualify for IVF on NHS you needed a certain BMI. I started going to Slimming World and I lost nine stone in two years. "For me, a lot of it was diet - chocolate was my downfall. Once I lost a few stone, I started being more active. I was going on walks every day - even if it was just for 10 minutes. I lost a lot of weight by cooking from scratch. "Before, when I'd made a bolognese, I'd buy the premade sauce. I started making it from scratch using tinned tomatoes and herbs instead. I stopped eating as many convenience foods." "It got to the end and I didn't have a lot of fat left to use. It was all just loose skin. My BMI needed to be around 30, and I was down to about 33." Lauren couldn't get her BMI any lower because of the excess skin she still had, and so the couple turned to a BCRM private fertility clinic two hours away. The couple did their first round of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment in May 2019, where they had 16 eggs collected. Three embryos were successfully created, and two were frozen in the hopes that the couple could have more children in the future. Lauren said: "We did our first round of IVF with ICSI, where they inject the egg with sperm. "We had two embryos left in the freezer from a fresh transfer. The transfer was successful first time." The couple welcomed their first child, Ella Grace, in March 2020. Lauren said: "Having Ella Grace was amazing, but it also didn't feel real as it has taken us so long. I think we were worried the whole time until she got here." As Ella Grace got older, she started asking her parents for a sibling. However, during the COVID lockdown, Lauren had regained the weight she had previously lost. "We tried to explain to her that that would be difficult. I felt so guilty as she wanted a sibling and it wasn't easy," Lauren said. "I slipped back into bad habits during lockdown. I was eating out of boredom, and I'd gained weight from my last pregnancy." It took Lauren two-and-a-half years to lose the 10.5st needed for her to become eligible for another round of IVF. She said: "I spent a lot of time chasing after Ella Grace. "It was a whole lifestyle change though. I tried it on my own but I couldn't stick with it so I went back to Slimming World. I needed that accountability. A lot of people told me I could do it myself, but I needed them to get me on the scales every week." In March 2025, the couple underwent another round of IVF, which ended in a miscarriage. Lauren underwent a third transfer just a month later, which was successful. The family welcomed Reuben, now nearly eight months, in March 2026. "He's amazing - such a happy little boy. It amazes me to think if we hadn't had the miscarriage, we could have had another child. If we couldn't have afforded another child, would he even be here?" Ella Grace loves being a big sister and adores Reuben. "When we first found out we were having a boy, Ella Grace was convinced it was actually a girl," Lauren said. "When she found out it was a boy, she cried. But she says to me all the time now, 'Do you remember when I wanted a little sister? I don't now as he's the best little brother.'" For men's health awareness month, a study by BCRM found that male factor fertility issues account for roughly half of all conception issues. It also found that 14.6 per cent of men who want or are trying for children felt emasculated after being diagnosed with a fertility issue. Ensure our latest DWP headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings