I got a DEXA scan today! I checked Groupon last night, and found one near me for $67 with immediate openings.
Overall it was much more interesting and valuable than I had anticipated. The guy who went through the results seemed very knowledgeable, and my finely tuned BS and woo-woo detector did not go off. No one tried to sell me supplements or more scans.
Even though I "hit my goal" by breaking into the normal BMI range -- which I always knew was naive and probably not the end -- I am still 33% body fat!! My Tanita scale thinks I am half of that. I knew it was likely to be wrong, but wow. (It varies a lot day to day too so I don't know that it is even useful for tracking changes.)
The counselor explained the visceral fat results to me. Despite my "healthy" BMI I am in a higher risk bracket based on visceral fat surface area. He suggested a next target weight that might get my VAT down into the statistically safer range. That is exactly the kind of guidance that I was hoping to get.
My lean muscle distribution (ALMI score) is also somewhat below where it should be. This was basically a quantitative confirmation that yes, I am not eating enough protein, and no, I am not exercising enough. I knew this, but now I have a number.
If you do not know how to interpret all the numbers yourself, the quality of the counsel you get is a big part of the value in the scan. I was lucky to find a good clinic.
If you like knowing things and not guessing at things, I would encourage anyone to get a scan when they hit an important milestone. It could really help you make plans.
Now, which peptides reduce visceral fat...
