Y’all, I did something super scary this week- I got my first DEXA scan. What is a DEXA scan, you may ask? Basically, a DEXA scan tells you your body composition- body fat, muscle, and bone composition. And it lets you track changes in body composition over time.
Unlike things like body weight and BMI, the results of a DEXA scan give you more personalized and insightful info on what’s going on with your body composition.
Why I got a DEXA scan
One of the joys of being a female in her 50s is that the old body seems to be changing. And not in ways that I am super happy with, to be frank! So I’ve been spending a bit of time getting educated about the physical changes that come with aging. I’ve written about how great I think Peter Attia’s podcast is. So when he recommended getting a baseline DEXA scan to understand my body composition, I started looking into it.
His recent book goes into more detail, and a number of podcast episodes also cover the topic. But basically, we need to keep (at a minimum) our muscle mass as we age- it is critical for achieving a happy, thriving life. So I bit the bullet and did my first DEXA scan. Knowledge is power, right??
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia
What the experience was like
I did a bit of research and stumbled upon BodySpec. Basically, I was looking for something convenient that wasn’t going to cost a lot. I wasn’t really sure if it was something I would want to repeat, so I didn’t want to make a significant financial commitment upfront.
BodySpec has vans all over the Bay Area (and other locations as well) and I quickly found a van that would be near my office. I booked a spot (they pack a lot of them in- each appointment is only 12 min long) and showed up at my designated time.
You’ll receive some basic instructions- don’t wear anything with metal on it, don’t eat or drink a lot beforehand. But they didn’t give me a good idea of what the actual report would look like. So I did feel like it was a bit of a leap of faith.
The scan took 7-8 min. The technician had me enter the van, remove my shoes and lay on a long bed with an overhead scanner. She positioned me quite precisely and asked me to be very still. The scanner made its way down my body and then it was done. The report was emailed to me within 10 minutes.
The technician was very helpful and answered all my questions. (I usually have a lot of questions!) One interesting tidbit- ~80% of the people getting scans are men, usually “fitness bros”, who are very focused on weight lifting. Women tend to be a bit more interested in overall health.
She also mentioned that she is hearing Peter Attia coming up a lot more as a reason for getting a scan. I guess people are reading his book 🙂
What I learned
Well I’m not going to share the specifics, other than to say that I have some work to do!
The technician did mention that their sample (and therefore where you may fall in their distribution) is not typical of the US population. It is highly skewed towards very healthy people- which might give you a little comfort when you see the results for your first DEXA scan. At least I’m trying to keep that in mind!
The report actually ended up surpassing my expectations in terms of detail. The video below gives you some info on the report.
My next steps
There were some areas of good news and some areas of “opportunity”, as they say in any performance review. A few surprises. But honestly, I am glad to have done this first DEXA scan. It’s given me a baseline and I feel motivated to make some changes. I’m already thinking about scheduling a follow up scan. The technician recommended scanning every 4-6 weeks, which seems a bit excessive. But I think doing it again in 3 months seems manageable. Now it’s time to get serious about making some changes.
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