DEXA Scan: 3 Reasons to Get One
What’s a DEXA scan?
When people think about their fitness and wellness goals, immediately they think about stepping on the scale. Now we’re not telling you to throw your scale away but maybe just tuck it away under the sink for a sec. Why? Because we love a DEXA scan.
Using a very low dose of radiation, DEXA gives you a comprehensive snapshot of your current state of wellness. This is way more helpful then just seeing a number on a scale. It measures your body composition, resting metabolic rate, and bone density. Click here to learn more about DEXA.
No matter where you’re at on your journey this can help tremendously. Here are our top three reasons why you should get a DEXA scan:
1. It gives you a great starting point.
If you are wanting to lose weight, change your body composition (which is what most people actually mean when they say they want to lose weight) or have performance goals; you need a place to start. Your DEXA scan can give you that starting point with two key pieces of information: your resting metabolic rate (RMR) and your body composition.
- RMR is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to function. Exercise and daily activity will increase the amount of calories your body needs. Consuming less than your your body needs will negatively impact your metabolism, immune system, and other essential bodily functions. Consuming more than what your body needs, causes weight gain and other metabolic health conditions.
- Body composition is lean muscle mass versus fat mass. A DEXA scan is the most accurate body fat measurement available. It shows the difference between subcutaneous (essential) fat and visceral (dangerous-to-your-health) fat. Knowing your body composition will help you further define your nutrition strategy and can provide direction for your exercise plan.
Defining your nutrition strategy or direction for your exercise plan can be some of the most challenging parts when working towards your goals. Now imagine how much easier you can approach nutrition when you know how many calories your body needs to function. Or how you can plan exercises targeting where your body holds dangerous-to-your-health fat. DEXA sets you up to reach your goals faster by giving you these key answers.
Our wellness team is here to help set your nutrition strategy or your exercise plan. Get started by clicking here.
2. Measure your weight loss progress.
While we sure wish progress happened faster. The truth is, it’s slow and often hard to notice on a daily basis. The scale should only be one of many ways you measure progress. Adding a DEXA scan every 6–12 months is a great way to measure the progress that’s the hardest to see and really not measurable any other way — like changes in lean mass versus fat mass.
For example, the number on the scale may not change much but if you increased lean mass and/or decreased fat mass you are making great progress!
3. A DEXA scan is life long tool.
Yes that’s right, we said years! Your focus shouldn’t be just on short-term changes, but on what you are doing to impact your health the rest of your life! There are times in life when exercise becomes more sporadic, a new baby or hormones (thanks menopause) impact your sleep, or you just don’t have as much time to meal prep/plan because of a new job. All that is ok because it’s about consistency and keeping tabs on factors like body composition and bone density will help ensure you don’t veer off track.
