You hit the gym every morning at 6 a.m. and maintain a balanced nutritional diet on the regular… and yet you’re still not seeing the results you want.
Puzzled over why your body progress is stalling even though you've been rigidly keeping up with your regular health and fitness regime?
That’s because many people plateau within the first few months of making a healthy lifestyle change. This is caused by the shifts in the distribution of weight, which can only be seen and explained through the accuracy delivered by a body composition test.
Body composition matters because it has a direct impact on your overall health and wellness. Choosing to understand your body's composition with DXA technology; the gold standard for personal analysis can be found locally through Bodycomp Imaging.
With no referral needed, you can quickly get your baseline measurements of your muscle mass, body fat and bone density and begin planning for greater health. DXA is fuelled by precision and accuracy, unlike BMI measurements.
“When clients have a clear picture of their make-up, they can target efforts and streamline their path to health,” says Ken Leggatt, CEO at Bodycomp Imaging. “Having a visual representation is key to helping people celebrate success and stay motivated on their wellness journey.”
Want to find out more? Here’s everything you need to know about body composition assessments and how they can help you achieve your body goals.
What is DXA? Is it safe?
A visualization of health, DXA (or Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry) scans are considered the gold standard in body composition measurements of whole body fat, muscle, and bone mass.
Through a device known as a Hologic DXA scanner, the process of x-ray absorptiometry captures an image of the full body while measuring the amount of tissue per pixel, with the scan results accurate up to 98.5 per cent.
A DXA scan is safe to conduct with low radiation, with the DXA reading being a non-enclosed experience that allows the client to be comfortable and fully clothed, unlike other anxiety-inducing scans.
How does a body composition scan work? I want to know what I’m getting myself into!
Safe, quick, and painless, a total body scan takes only 7 minutes. The DXA scanner makes a series of 7 passes over your body, with two distinct x-ray energies passing through the tissues of the body to generate a map of your body’s fat, lean, and bone mineral content per pixel.
What does a body composition scan measure and calculate?
Able to tell the difference between healthy lean tissue and excessive body fat, a body composition scan can tell you how much fat, muscle, and bone — the three components that make up your total weight — your body is composed of. With these percentages, your body fat, muscle mass, and bone density ratio is determined.
A body imaging scan also calculates other important components, such as how many calories your body burns per day based upon your muscle mass and activity level. It is also the only way to determine how much visceral fat is in your abdomen — one of several key indicators identified by DXA that cannot be estimated by any other means.
Photo provided by Bodycomp Imaging.
What do I get with a body composition scan?
A completed scan produces a detailed image of the body and a summary of its components. The x-ray image scan breaks down the grams of fat, muscle, and bone tissue for the entire body, as well as per arm, leg, and torso, and the percent body fat for the entire body, as well as for individual sub-regions.
To provide a full analysis of the data, a technologist will use the scan to form additional assessments, such as estimating your resting metabolic rate based on your lean tissue mass. This data will help you formulate a macronutrient-based nutrition plan based on your personal caloric requirements to manage your weight, lose fat, and/or increase muscle mass.
Technologists may also check for lean mass symmetry in the limbs for injury prevention, and compare the proportion of percent fat in the abdominal region with total body fat to reduce health risks.
Trusted by health professionals, a body composition scan provides key metrics that enable the implementation of lifestyle modifications for greater health and longevity, allowing you to intervene with confidence.
To build upon the baseline provided through the initial reading, routine scans are recommended every three to six months. Follow up scans will allow you to monitor your progress and see how your body is adapting to your lifestyle changes.
With Bodycomp, a paper hardcopy and digital copy of your whole body composition image and scan results are provided to clients post-scan. You will also have unlimited access to your Bodycomp scan through the Jevitty app, so you can review your data, wherever you are.
How can I get measured for bone density?
Bodycomp offers bone density screenings, where the hip and the spine are scanned in detail to assess your fracture risk due to low bone mass.
Although a whole body scan includes these areas, assessing bone density requires detailed images to produce optimal results due to the way our bodies store and lose mineral mass in the skeleton.
Who is a body scan for?
You!
From the competitive sports athlete looking to build their muscle and strength to the mother of two wanting to reduce body fat, a body composition scan is an effective tool for anyone wanting to take their fitness game to the next level, manage weight and gain health, and take proactive and preventative measures for healthy living and aging.
With a body scan, you can formulate a plan and make necessary modifications to your training routine, weight loss program, dietary plan, and overall lifestyle in order to reach your health and wellness goals!
Go to bodycomp.ca for more information on Bodycomp Imaging’s body scan services and to book an appointment today.
Photo provided by Bodycomp Imaging.
We’ve partnered with Bodycomp Imaging to give one lucky winner 1 Year of DXA body composition scans (Valued at $500)
You can enter via the contest entry form below. For additional chances to win, visit Bodycomp Imaging at their website for 10 bonus entries, follow the @bodycompimaging and @jevittylife Facebook and Instagram pages for another 25 bonus entries each, and complete the bonus entries on this Instagram post.
This contest is open to British Columbia residents 18+ and closes on March 30, 2022. The contest winner will be contacted via email on this date.
