Body Composition
Overview
There’s more to fitness than the number on a scale. A body composition exam looks beyond that number to show the fat, lean muscle, and bone throughout the body to see true progress and stay on track towards your goals.
The exam uses dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which captures a full-body image with a small amount of X-ray to measure fat, lean muscle, and bone with pinpoint accuracy. It’s fast, easy, and painless, taking less than 10 minutes to complete. This exam requires a physician referral.
Why Get a Body
Composition Test?
You’ll receive an Advances Body Composition Report: a clear breakdown of your body, including:
Fat, lean muscle, and bone by region: arms, legs, torso, and hips
Fat, lean muscle, and bone by region: arms, legs, torso, and hips.
Visceral fat: the deep abdominal fat linked to metabolic disease, and type 2 diabetes
Visceral fat: the deep abdominal fat linked to metabolic disease, and type 2 diabetes
Why it matters?
The scale can’t tell you if you’re losing fat or muscle, or whether hidden visceral fat is putting your health at risk. This exam can give you a real baseline to measure progress toward your goals.
Patient Testimonials
Karen
“Karen was especially amazing. She was friendly and helpful and did a fantastic job!”
Camille
“She was extremely warm and kind. I was very nervous and she walked me through the whole process.”
Stephanie
“My tech was excellent… She made an appointment that I would rather miss. Quick and professional.”
JT
“My technician, JT, was extremely thoughtful and through. He was very detailed in explaining the procedure…”
Danelle
“She was great! Very good at positioning and explaining what she was doing or going to do and when to breathe. Good guidance through procedure.”
Nishell
“I called to schedule my daughter for an exam… Nikki took that all away for me.”
Frequently Asked Questions
We all know that lean muscle is good and excess fat is bad. But neither is measured accurately by weight or body mass index (BMI). This exam looks beyond the scale to provide the most precise and accurate measurement of fat, lean muscle and bone throughout your body. You will also learn how and where in your body the tissue is distributed-along with the factors that impact that. This unique, individualized data makes it possible to tailor your nutrition and exercise program to the specific needs of your body, which means you are in better control of your end result.
Good Fat or Bad Fat?
There are two types of fat in your body:
- Essential fats, which are needed for the normal function of the body
- Non-essential fats, which are stored in your body’s fat cells for extra energy.
Your healthy range of total body fat percentage depends on several factors, including age, gender, diet and exercise level.
During the exam, you will lie on your back fully-clothed on the table. In the span of about 10 minutes, a DXA scanner will move over your body to take the X-ray. A computer software application calculates the imaging results to generate a customized assessment of the body fat, fat mass and lean muscle mass for various regions: including arms, legs, trunk, and total body. Your bone mineral density (BMD) may also be analyzed for additional information about your bone health and risk for such diseases as osteoporosis. DXA body composition exams are fast, simple and painless.