Your body fat percentage directly impacts your health and your appearance. There are several methods used to determine body fat percentage. One of the best is the DEXA Scan because it shows your true body fat percentage.
I recently got a DEXA scan to measure my body fat percentage. DEXA scans are also referred to as a Body Composition Analysis (BCA). DEXA provides a comprehensive report of your muscle mass, water weight and body fat percentage.
In this post I’ll talk about what a DEXA Scan is and why you should get one if you are serious about your health.
In the image above, the ‘color man’ shows my bones, lean muscle mass, and subcutaneous fat tissue.
The ‘crystal man’ on the right shows visceral fat, which is any fat that’s not between the muscles and skin. Visceral fat typically surrounds the organs of the body. The whiter the image the more visceral fat there is in that spot.
What is a DEXA Scan?
A DEXA scan is a non-invasive procedure where you lay on a table and a robot shoots you with invisible laser beams. All you do is lay down on a padded table and meditate for a few minutes while the machine does its thing:
DEXA stands for Duel-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry.
The two X-rays shot into your body are absorbed or reflected by your bones, soft tissues and other body matter. The level of absorption or reflection of the x-rays shows your bone density, body fat, and lean muscle mass.
There’s much more in a DEXA Scan readout than a couple technicolor silhouettes. We’ll get in to all that below. But first, here’s why I subjected myself to be blasted with radiation.
Why Did I get a DEXA Scan?
I’ve always wanted to get a DEXA scan because I heard it’s the most accurate way to measure body fat percentage.
I’ve tried other ways to measure body fat such as skin-fold measurement with calipers and with bioimpedance machines.
DEXA seems to be the most accurate for getting a true measure of body fat percentage. The X-rays penetrate through your body to measure ALL of your body fat. Not just the subcutaneous fat between your muscles and skin. Bioimpedence machines jolt you with a weak electrical current and your results depend on the amount of resistance of the current from your body. These machines are more prone to being inaccurate and inconsistent. DEXA scans measures all your body fat and shows you were it is, even the body fat deep inside your core.
Since the internet is rife with misinformation about fitness, I decided there was only one way to know for sure what the best way to measure body fat is.
As fate would have it, a man reached out to me and offered me a free DEXA scan as long as I wrote about my experience and linked to their website.
And I’m glad he reached out because DEXA scans cost about $115 and I don’t know if insurance covers it just because you’re curious about body fat percentage. (However, you may be able to ask your doctor for one as part of a physical of preventive routine and see if your insurance covers the cost.)
Anyway, I jumped at the opportunity and made an appointment immediately: Video proof of me getting a DEXA Scan.
DEXA Scan Results
A DEXA scan provides a very detailed report on your total body composition:
I walked out of the doctor’s office with 10 pages of information to interpret the report. I’ll dig into some of the sections of this printout.
I had no idea what to expect with my DEXA results. Some things I saw were surprising others were interesting, still other things confused me for a bit.
Body Fat Percentage
I guessed my body fat percentage would be 16-17%. The results showed a bit higher than that as my body fat percentage was 19.7%.
This reading was higher than the skin fold test and bioimpedience test which put me at roughly 11-14%. I got all three tests within 24 hours of each other.
Body Composition Results
I like how the results break down each individual body part. The scan also shows the body composition the torso, head, and each arm and leg.
This was very interesting to see the ratios and symmetry between each part of my body.
Something that I’m trying to figure out is why my right leg is smaller yet has a higher fat ratios than my left leg. I’m right dominant, so I would expect my legs to match my arms: My right arm is larger and has a higher muscle to fat ratio than my left arm.
Something for me to ponder and keep an eye on.
The results also show that my lower body region (Gynoid) stores more fat relative to my upper body (android).
That shows pretty clearing in the ‘color man’ image at the beginning of this post. My but and thighs keep the most fat.
Body Composition Analysis Sheet
The second page of the DEXA scan results provides an overview of two interesting metrics:
- Basal Metabolic Rate
- Bone Mineral Density
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories you would burn doing nothing all day. Meaning, if I sat on my ass all day I would burn 2,073 calories in a 24 hours period.
Knowing your BMR is an essential baseline from which you tweak your calories intake in order to gain or lose weight.
Bone Mineral Density
This was a new one for me. Up until today I had no idea what bone mineral density was. Bone mineral density is a gauge of overall bone strength. The stronger your bones the greater your strength and muscular potential.
You need strong bones to hoist big weights and to carry muscle mass. If your bones are too weak they would bend or snap from the power of your own muscles flexing.
Bone mineral density is read on a scale -4 to +4. Anything under -1 is considered pre-ostheoporosis. Anything +3 means you’re a Neanderthal capable of incredible feats of strength.
My bone mineral density is 1.359 g/cm^2. Which in my mind isn’t that bad since I maybe drink one gallon of milk a year.
How Accurate is a DEXA Scan for Measuring Body Fat Percentage?
DEXA scan is typically agreed to be the most accurate body fat percentage reading. Since it does provide all the fat within your body. The only thing that could be more accurate is a water displacement measure. But that’s something I’ll discuss at a later date.
How Often Should You Get a DEXA Scan?
Every 8-12 weeks is good if you are trying to gain or lose weight.
It will tell you how effective your training and diet protocol are.
Now keep in mind, you are shooting yourself with low doses of x-ray radiation so that’s not always good.
But then again, it’s probably no more radiation than a 30 minute phone call with a cell phone pressed against your head.
Seeing your body composition provides insight on how to adjust your macros.
It’s possible to lose weight and gain fat.
Meaning you need to know that there’s much more to fitness than your weight.
Understanding your body composition ratio between muscle and fat helps you fine-tune your diet and workout to get the best results.
If you don’t feel like dropping $100 every few months, you can get a smart scale that reads your body fat percentage (and other neat metrics).
What Do You Do With DEXA Scan Results?
The information provided by the DEXA scan will help me adjust my training.
A few things stood out, such as the differences in my left and right arms and legs.
I expected my right arm to be a bit larger than my left, but I did not expect my left leg to be larger than my right.
I will have to correct that in my training.
In addition to that I was shocked by the curve in my spine. It was powerful to see. I attribute this to uneven chest muscle development.
My left chest is much stronger and larger than my right chest muscle.
My left shoulder rolls forward pulling on my trap and rhomboid muscle, consequently pulling my spine to the left.
This was very eye opening and I now want to find ways to naturally correct it before it might become a problem.
Athletes Should Not Trust Body Mass Index (BMI)
Another items on my DEXA scan report card was a BMI chart.
According to BMI I am overfat and overweight.
Can you believe that? i have six-pack abs and I’m considered overweight by the World Health Organizations standard measurement system.
What I’m saying here is that you need to seek the best measurement for you. It’s good to do many different body fat measurements to compare and contract the results.
That’s why getting a comprehensive body composition analysis is a good idea for people who take their health seriously.
If you want to get a DEXA Scan, go to dexascan.com to find a location near you.
Disclaimer: Although I did get a free DEXA scan, the link above is not an affiliate link. Meaning I make $0 if you click the link or not. I do however believe that a DEXA scan will provide you with a great baseline of data that is useful for determining the right diet and workout to reach your fitness goals.
Try strengthening your Serratus muscles to improve your shoulder rolling forward….and dead hangs. I’ve been working on this for a while now and these two things have helped dramatically.
Thanks Adam, I’ll give that a shot!