I Have My DEXA Results...Now What?

I'm genuinely excited that so many of you chose to get a DEXA scan.

Even if you don’t feel great about what the report says, or the results are worse than you expected...there is still reason for excitement. Because many of you now have something you've never had before: a clear and objective starting point.

One of the biggest challenges I face when coaching nutrition is that people often have unanchored goals. They know they want to lose weight, build muscle, or simply become healthier, but they don't really know what that success actually looks like. The DEXA changes that.

The DEXA isn’t a judgement. It simply tells us where you're starting. Armed with this data, we can build a much smarter plan.

If you've worked with me on nutrition before, you've probably heard me say that I have a love-hate relationship with the bathroom scale. The scale isn't useless, it's just incomplete and for some, it can be really torturous. It tells us how much we weigh, but it tells us nothing about what we weigh.

If you were to lose twenty pounds, was the weight body fat? Muscle? Water? Some combination of all three? Without that information, it's entirely possible to celebrate progress that actually moved you farther away from your goal.

That's why I care far more about body composition than body weight. Body composition measures our body fat percentage which is a really important metric of health...just like bone density (also on your report), blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, etc...

With this knowledge, we can then establish an actual goal weight. For example, let's take a man who is borderline obese with a BF% of 26% and the goal of getting to a healthy range below 16%. That is a 10% reduction. So if this person is 200lbs, their goal weight (assuming they preserve their muscle mass) is 180lbs.

Even though this example focuses on the scale, the goal isn’t weight loss, it’s fat loss. I don't actually coach people to lose weight. I coach them to improve their body composition.

That may sound like semantics, but I believe it's one of the most important mindset shifts we can make. One goal is about becoming smaller. The other is about becoming healthier, stronger, and more capable. To do this we must reduce body fat while preserving every possible pound of muscle. That's an entirely different pursuit, and the results are entirely different.

There are very practical reasons for making that distinction. Carrying excess body fat asks every system in the body to do a little more work. The heart pumps blood through more tissue. The joints absorb greater forces every time we walk, run, or jump. The risk of metabolic disease gradually increases.

On the other hand, as body composition improves, almost everything gets easier. Running feels springy. Burpees become less of a grind. Pull-ups become more attainable. Hiking, skiing, climbing stairs, playing with your kids, and simply moving through life all require less effort because you're carrying less non-functional weight.

If you don't believe me, I'll gladly let you borrow a 20-pound weight vest. Wear it through a workout with a few runs, burpees, and pull-ups. It won't take long before you appreciate how much difference twenty pounds of non-functional weight can make.

And if your DEXA report wasn't what you hoped it would be, don't be discouraged, and please don't be embarrassed. It isn't a judgment of your worth, your effort, or your potential. It's simply a snapshot of where you are today. Nothing more.

And that’s exciting because today is the day we stop guessing. Today is the day we start building a plan that's specific to you.

Your DEXA also gives us something incredibly valuable: a baseline. We can now calculate caloric needs, establish protein targets, and build a nutrition plan based on your actual physiology instead of estimations and approximations.

Then, when you get another scan, we won't have to wonder whether the plan worked. We'll know.

That's why I love the DEXA…what gets measured gets managed.

So...What's Next?

If your DEXA left you with questions, let's sit down and go through it together. I'd love to help you understand exactly where you're starting from and build a plan that gets you where you want to go.

Our next Nutrition Group is starting in mid-October, and I honestly can't think of a better time to begin. The holidays are right around the corner, but that doesn't mean progress has to wait until January. In fact, this may be the best time of year to establish good habits before life gets even busier.

You've already taken the first step by gathering the information. Now let's use it.

Because knowledge doesn't change your body. Consistent action does.

And when we repeat these scans in 3-6 months, you'll be thrilled because your body is healthier, stronger, and faster than it is today.

Because at the end of the day, the goal can’t simply be to weigh less.

The goal has always been to become more capable.

In health,

Coach Parker