DEXA Scan today!

I'm glad to see you here today, you've been on my mind. It's ok to be emotional and ok to be frustrated, and also to look at all the information you can. This is hard stuff and some days are harder to take than others.

Wishing you well, always!

Thank you, Jen, sugar! All is well and I'm happy to be here.

Hi you guys! I realize not everyone will see this but wanted to give a little update on this topic.

Today I spoke with a man from the company I had my recent DEXA scan with to go over my results, mostly because I was concerned with my body fat percentage being too low. Because I have lost 226 pounds, I have some loose skin, and this is visible on the scan image at least in one area as kind of a blob around my upper arm (or it could be my breast, who knows, but either way I definitely have some loose skin). Loose skin is difficult for the scan to identify as such, so it identifies it as muscle rather than fat, which makes the overall percentage of lean tissue appear to be higher, while the overall fat percentage correspondingly appears lower. I do have a big percentage of lean muscle as opposed to fat anyway, and my visceral fat is amazingly low, which is actually a positive thing. But the point is, loose skin is misidentified by the scan as lean tissue, which skews the results. The guy I spoke with guesstimated that I likely have more like 17-18% fat as a result of the extra skin being read as lean muscle. So still lean, but not quite as on the edge as 15.9%...whew!

So when do you think we should get our first DEXA? 6mo after surgery, 1yr?

Your question is best answered by your doc.

My surgeon had me get my first one at around 6 months out, but I was 64, and I suspect he wanted it done at that point more to check on my bones than on my bodyfat, since I still had plenty of that, having started with a BMI of 53.