When most people think about tracking their health, they think of their daily steps or the number on the scale. But these numbers alone don’t tell your full health story—especially when it comes to strength, vitality, and healthspan. Whether you’re thinking proactively in your 40s, your 70s, or managing a chronic condition at any age, knowing your body composition can give you deeper insight than weight alone on your health status and the impact of your current fitness and nutrition plan.
There are several methods of measuring body composition, from DEXA scans to bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) scales. All of them have their pros and cons, with DEXA being one of the most accurate measures but less accessible to the general public and sometimes quite costly. At the Wellness Center, we use the InBody machine, a non-invasive BIA device that uses electronic pulses and personalized formulations to generate a closely accurate estimate of body composition. While slightly less precise than a DEXA or Sozo scale, the Inbody data provides excellent trend information over time so that we can help our clients tailor their wellness protocol to better meet their needs.
Why Body Composition?
It’s common to gradually lose muscle and gain fat as we age—even if your weight stays the same. The average American loses 3-8% muscle mass every decade after 30 years old and loses almost twice as much overall power. This shift in body composition can impact everything from energy levels and metabolism to balance, mobility, and disease risk (both onset and progression).
Building and maintaining muscle is not just for athletes. Lean muscle mass plays a critical role in blood sugar control, bone strength, metabolic health, and independence as we age. And when we lose muscle, we lose strength, mobility, and resilience. Body composition analysis gives us a clearer picture of how your fitness and nutrition plan is working—and where we can make improvements. For example, someone with weight loss goals might see the numbers going down on the scale at home, but if body composition analysis shows us this is all lean mass loss, that is not helping the body’s metabolic health. Another person might have osteoporosis and low body weight so is following a heavy weight lifting and high calorie protocol. We use body composition to make sure muscle mass is increasing (heavy lifting with adequate protein intake) and mass is increasing in lean and subcutaneous mass, not in visceral (which would show a need for dietary change). This is of course a lot of information, which is why working with a professional is key when you are new to body composition analysis so that you use the extra data in a productive way.
What the InBody Report Tells You
A quick InBody scan (no pinching or water tanks required!) gives you an in-depth look at many areas of the body, but there are several key indicators that we focus on at the Wellness Center:
- Lean Body Mass: This includes everything in your body that isn’t fat—muscle, bones, organs, and water. It helps us track if you’re gaining strength in the right ways. This is also the number that we base nutrition recommendations on. For example, high protein needs is often calculated as 1g per pound lean body mass.
- Skeletal Muscle Mass: This is the muscle attached to your bones that supports movement and function. Increasing this type of muscle is key for maintaining balance, joint protection, and metabolic health.
- Percent Body Fat: Rather than focusing on weight, this number helps us understand how much of your body is composed of fat. It’s more telling than BMI and can guide realistic, healthy goals from weight loss to metabolic health.
- Visceral Fat: This is the fat stored around your internal organs. Too much visceral fat is linked to higher risk of conditions like heart disease and diabetes, even if overall weight is healthy – yet another reason to look at body composition and not just a home scale or BMI.
Whether you’re working on reversing age-related muscle loss, managing a condition like diabetes or heart disease, or simply wanting to feel stronger and more energized, knowing your body composition helps us personalize your plan and track meaningful progress.
You don’t have to guess how your body is changing—you can measure it and know what your body is truly made of.
Inbody assessments can be accessed in three ways here at the Wellness Center:
- Included in any 50 minute personal training or dietitian session, as needed.
- Booked as a 20 minute health coaching, personal training or dietitian session for a quick review of the data and professional recommendations.
- For those already savvy in reading the Inbody report and looking for some consistent accountability from the data without professional recommendations, you may access the Inbody on your own during any Open Gym session. Open Gym is free to our fitness members or can be accessed with a drop in fee for our non-member community.
Login to your account online or on the St. Jude Wellness Center app to book any of the sessions above.
