My fight with the scales, and how De Werf turned it around

For five months the scales barely moved. Two kilos, no more. And yet nothing matched the old picture any longer: my clothes were looser, my waist was centimetres slimmer and I felt years younger. The scales, the thing I had stared at my whole life, turned out to be the least interesting number of them all.

Fine on the surface, a fight underneath

I am Renske, 45 years old, a self-employed strategic communications adviser. Married, mother of a thirteen-year-old daughter and two bonus children. My work asks a lot of me: staying sharp, being switched on, delivering. My body and mind simply have to be in top condition.

What nobody around me saw was the fight I had been having with myself for years. Trying to lose weight, winning for a moment, then slipping back. I kept it small and kept up appearances. But it gnawed at me.

How I ended up at De Werf

Through word of mouth I ended up at De Werf, and with Ian. I had expected a gym with a programme and a pat on the back. Ian first asked what my weeks looked like, how I slept, when I ate and where my energy was leaking away. He looks at the whole person. I had not seen that coming, and it turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Training was only half of it

Let me be honest: this was no miracle cure. I started in February and have trained three times a week ever since. But just as much of the progress came from the kitchen. Every day my food went on the scales, my protein and calories tracked. I spent months in a slight calorie deficit. It sounded like a punishment, but it became normal faster than I ever expected. And that gnawing hunger of before, the feeling that always made me cave? Beaten.

The recipe was surprisingly simple

Looking back, the approach was almost embarrassingly simple. Listen to Ian. And when I did not understand something, instead of tinkering myself based on something I had read, I would simply check in with him. That was all.

The scales lied, my measurements did not

Look at the numbers that really matter and a lot happened in five months. My body fat dropped from almost 35 to 27 per cent, neatly into the healthy range. More than five kilos of fat disappeared, while my muscle mass moved up instead. At its narrowest point my waist became almost fifteen centimetres slimmer. My organ fat is now in the optimal zone. And the figure that moved me most: my metabolic age went from 47 to 30.

The scales? Barely two kilos down. That is exactly why you should not steer by your weight alone. Had I stayed fixed on that one number, I would long have decided it was not working, while my body was changing completely.¹

Now eating enough is the challenge

I have reached my goals by now. Although ten pull-ups in a row is just beyond me, so that is my next mission. The funny thing is that I am allowed to eat normally again, and that is far more than during my diet. Where I once fought to eat less, eating enough has almost become a task in itself. My body asks for it, and that feels like a luxury.

What I want to pass on to you

Do you recognise yourself in this, in that endless fight with a number that just will not budge? Then here is what I wish for you: stop staring at the scales and start measuring what really matters. Your body fat, your girth, your energy, how your clothes fit. And find someone you trust and are willing to listen to. For me that was Ian. The fight I had waged on my own for years dissolved the moment I handed it over.

About the author:
Renske van der Woerd (45) is a self-employed strategic communications adviser and has been training at De Werf in Den Haag since February 2026.

Do you want to be free of that fight with the scales too? Discover during an intake at De Werf in Den Haag what suits you.

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Read also:
Our coaching in nutrition and lifestyle and physical training, and the article Lowering your body fat percentage: what really works?.

Sources:
¹ Losing weight - Voedingscentrum