My Body Composition Scan: Now I know
I now have a weight loss goal. The facts are now in thanks to a very cool piece of technology I experienced today.
I went to the Beaumont Health System’s Weight Loss Center in Royal Oak for the final piece of my baseline testing, a procedure known as a Body Composition Scan, done on a DEXA (Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry) machine, which differentiates body weight into the components of lean soft tissue, fat soft tissue and bone, based on the differential attenuation by tissues of two levels of x-rays.
This method is generally considered to be the most precise, accurate, and reliable method to determine just how fat someone is and to establish fat loss goals.
I lay face up on a table and, for about six minutes, the table moved up and down and back and forth beneath the DEXA’s X-Ray arm. As it did, it recorded just what I look like.
Above is a video of the procedure:
So, my full body composition scan shows my true weight at the start of this project was 213.7 pounds.
Of that 143.0 pounds are lean muscle.
And 70.7 pounds are fat.
My fat percentage is 33%. The goal is to get to 25%.
Martin Lillystone, M.A., the Beaumont Weight Control Center’s exercise physiologist supervisor who did the test, said that based on the scan, my body should weigh 191 pounds.
That means I need to lose a little over 22 pounds.
Knowledge is powerful.
The cost of the test is $65.
The scan is pretty cool. When people asked what I wanted to weigh, I always said 175-200, based on those old height and weight charts we’ve been looking at for decades and wondering if they really applied to real people.
The body composition scan test showed me maybe not.
191 sounds better and more attainable than 175.
Update: Several readers have asked how they can get one of these tests. You can call the Beaumont Weight Control Center at 248-655-5926. The cost of the test is $65
at 12:43 pm
Mike, thank you so much for the information you are providing on your better health quest~it is much appreciated.