DEXA scans

[Rock Solid1]

In my research, I found prices all over the place. Some places wanted $350 for a scan. A local gym does them for $70 and decided to do that.

 

[SpiralJetty]

Any experience with dexa from anyone in the UK. It doesn't seem very easy to get a scan generally here. If you can they tend to be near London and require a doctor referral from what I can tell.

Here in the UK I can get a private one in london for around £100-£150, no doctor referral needed. It's pretty useful to have one done to understand your body composition before starting glp-1 agonists and then again when you're at your target weight so you can work out if you need to start building up muscle.

 

[woundcarping]

To me, assuming traditional high starting BMI levels, a baseline and progress reports would be more useful than start and finish in terms of making proactive trajectory adjustments, especially for lean mass.

Finding out at your goal weight that 40% of your weight loss was muscle would be tough.

 

[Foggy-Hollow]

Yeah I called mine up yesterday and they said non students needed a $50 pass for the health center, but honestly it’s a steal still. It’s InBody though, not DXA.

The goal is to buy my own DXA machine

Jk that probably takes a shitton of power. The InBody probably doesn’t, so that’s more realistic …

Double check their model vs specs online but InBody is usually impedance.

If you’re checking measurement to measurement impedance can reasonably tell if you’re trending the correct direction. As absolute numbers go it’s too dependent on water content and other variables.

My first smart scale did impedance est of BF. It was feet only. In body will have more info on arms vs legs and the comparison with peers is nice.

My gym has InBody $25 and can or 2 for $40.

It’s not the gold standard but for trending it’s pretty nice, and it has the tissue breakdown.

 

[80s.diver]

I had my 3rd Dexa scan today, doing one every 3 months to keep my progress recorded. Between the first and second one, I had lost more muscle mass than I anticipated, but between the second and third, I ended up gaining some muscle mass back. I knew that this was a potential since I have been hitting some PR's in my deadlifts and squats and close to PR in my bench presses.

I still have stubborn visceral fat, that hasn't been going down like I want it to, but the guy running the machine gave me some insight. It is either the first or the last thing to go, guess in my place it is the last thing to go.

I am down 45 lbs and have 15 lbs more to go, so here is to losing some belly fat.

I do have an InBody scale and it is about 7-10% lower in BF % than the Dexa scan, so I really think the Dexa is worth it, at least to me it is.

 

[Dilbert4Life]

Are there different types of dexa scans? I started looking locally in my city and costs varied enough to make me think what's the difference.

 

[woundcarping]

Are there different types of dexa scans? I started looking locally in my city and costs varied enough to make me think what's the difference.

Body comp and bone density are the two types I know of. Here, a bone density requires a Dr order.

 

[5byfive]

One thing to keep in mind, not all scans are created equal. Dr. Mike (love him or hate him) did a couple videos on this and I had exactly the same experience. I usually get my scans done at a local university. They have a really nice GE machine. Well I was getting near my final goal and I had a jump in weight that didn't make any sense. I didn't know if I should keep cutting or stop so I made a quick appt at a local women's center. Their scanner was obviously not as nice and they couldn't even get both my head and feet in the scan.

The results showed that I had more fat than I though. Didn't really make sense based on looks or my program but I went with it. When I did a scan a couple months later at the university I had over shot and was very lean. Definitely believe the university scan. Their equipment is much better and the results match what i would have expected based on past scans, my program, and what I see in the mirror.

They are a great tool and they can be very accurate, but they are not perfect and they are not all created the equal.

 

[DunningKruger]

They're often sold in packs of two at wellness clinics or high end gyms. Mine cost $150 for two scans, two eight page reports, and two consults with a chiropractor for 20 minutes post-scan. DEXA has a locator on their page. My location wasn't on the list, but the machine read DEXA, so maybe they're out of date or newer locations aren't listed.

It's kinda fun. While "not a diagnostic tool," I learned my spine is as crooked as a politician!

It will definitely tell you your bone density, and the report summary looks like a bit like this.

 

[FlowerFairy]

$65

Anyone charging more then $100 would be outrages to me but maybe my area is cheaper LOTs of places to chose from here... if i buy 2 of them they are $50 each

What part of the country are you in?

 

[FlowerFairy]

I get them at no cost from my doctor's office. They're a "direct primary primary" care doctor where we pay a monthly membership fee and DEXA scans are included in the monthly fee. We also get prescriptions at wholesale cost and basically 24/7 access to our physician via email/text. I highly recommend into searching these out.

If I thought they would accept my insurance, I’d go. In my area it’s all medical groups and I hate it.

 

[MTSpace]

My insurance covers Dexa Scan every 3 years for bone density and muscle mass. Check with PCP as this is included a small co-pay or no co=pay on both my wife's insurance and my seperate insurance.

 

[domin8brix]

I have only done one, last July, and plan to do another this July. I am a little mad that I didn't do it prior to my bariatric surgery for a baseline, because that would've been WILD. But last July, I was at 117lbs and 9.7% body fat (my surgeon actually wants me to regain 4-5 lbs of body fat but I am not really interested lol). Since I am off my normal routine post shoulder surgery I have regained about 11lbs and now I am trying to get back to normal to shed that before my next one. I had an InBody in November that was pretty much the same results, it had me at like 10.4% fat but 115 lbs.

 

[ThatNextGril]

I really like them. I luckily live in LA and there's no shortage of places to get InBody scans or DEXA, if you shop around. I use a company called BodySpec, and they have a clinic for in house scans, but it's farther than I want to drive. So, every month at various gyms around town they have their mobile scan vans for anyone to get a scan (not just members of the gym). I did one last month, which ended up being exactly 3 years from my first scan. The changes in the results were so cool to see (losing ~40 pounds is quite visible!) and I think I want to buy a package deal of multiple scans to do them every 4 months or so. Numbers are great for tracking and trending, but I admit I like checking out the comparison scans every now and then just to get that visual hit.

 

[staffn1]

Listened to the Stronger by Science Oct 17, 2022 podcast today reviewing the literature on how good (more like how aweful) these measurements are including DEXA. They link the articles and review articles for reading.