The Unfiltered — I Got My First DEXA Scan, And Here's What I Learned

Why I stopped caring about the number on the scale a long time ago, and what I'm actually tracking now.

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I didn’t take the DEXA scan that seriously before I went.

I booked it mostly out of curiosity (and transparently because it was free).

I figured I’d lie on a table for ten minutes, get some numbers, and move on.

Honestly, I almost cancelled.

What I didn’t expect was how much it would shift the way I think about my own body data.

I got my first DEXA scan at BOD in Venice last week.

And honestly, if you haven’t done one, it should be on your list.

Here’s why.

We are so conditioned to fixate on the number on a scale.

I stopped doing that a long time ago, and getting this scan confirmed exactly why.

That number tells you almost nothing.

It doesn’t tell you how much of your body is fat versus lean muscle mass.

It doesn’t tell you where that fat is distributed — subcutaneous or visceral.

It doesn’t tell you your bone density, which is one of the most important longevity markers most people never think about until something breaks.

A DEXA scan tells you all of that, with precision.

In about 10 minutes, lying completely still, you get:

• Body fat percentage and distribution

• Lean muscle mass by region, including arms, legs, and trunk

• Visceral fat mass (the metabolically active fat surrounding your organs)

• Bone mineral density

• Symmetry between left and right sides of the body

• Resting metabolic rate estimate

Here’s what actually shifted for me.

There was a previous version of me who weighed herself constantly.

First thing in the morning, after the bathroom, and after a sweaty workout.

Checking, monitoring, evaluating…

As if that number was telling me something useful.

As if it was telling me anything at all.

That version of me was not taking care of her body.

She was auditing it.

Treating it like a project with a performance metric attached.

Something to be managed, optimized, and constantly assessed against an invisible standard that kept moving.

I don’t live there anymore, and neither should you.

And getting this scan confirmed exactly why I was right to leave.

The scale measures gravitational pull on your total mass. That’s it.

It cannot tell you whether that mass is muscle or fat, bone or water, visceral or subcutaneous.

It cannot tell you whether your body is strong or depleted, nourished or inflamed, building or breaking down.

It is the least useful number in the room.

This is also why I find the GLP-1 conversation so incomplete.

Yes, the number on the scale goes down, sometimes dramatically.

But, GLP-1s drive muscle loss alongside fat loss, and emerging research is showing significant impacts on bone density in long-term users.

You can become “skinny” by every conventional metric while simultaneously losing the very tissue that determines how you function, move, and age.

A lower number on a scale that reflects muscle wasting and declining bone density is not a health outcome.

It is a different kind of problem wearing a smaller size.

By the way, I want to acknowledge the irony here.

I just spent several paragraphs telling you to stop treating your body like a project, and now I’m telling you to go get a scan that gives you a detailed breakdown of your body composition.

I get it.

But, here’s the distinction that matters to me: there is a difference between obsessive self-monitoring driven by fear, and intentional baseline data driven by curiosity and care.

Weighing myself multiple times a day was anxiety dressed up as self-improvement.

It was my nervous system looking for reassurance in a number that was never going to give it.

Getting a DEXA scan once, building a baseline, and checking back in six months is something different entirely.

It’s not daily surveillance or punishment.

It’s not a metric I’m going to let define how I feel about myself when I wake up tomorrow.

It’s information used wisely, at the right intervals, in the right spirit.

The goal was never to stop caring about your body.

It was to stop being at war with it.

So, what I’m building now is lean muscle mass.

That’s the metric that matters — for longevity, for metabolic health, for hormonal balance, for bone density, for how your body actually functions as you age.

I now have a real baseline for body composition, lean muscle mass by region, and bone density.

Actual numbers I can use as a benchmark as I continue to prioritize strength training.

In three to six months, I’ll rescan and see exactly what has shifted and what hasn’t.

Again, your body is not a project.

It is not just a number.

It is not something to be audited every morning before you’ve had coffee.

It is something to be understood — deeply, accurately, and with far more precision than a scale will ever offer you.

And, what I found particularly valuable is how this fits into the fuller picture I’m building on myself.

Paired with my bi-annual Function Health labs, I am starting to have a genuinely comprehensive view of what is happening inside my body at any given time.

This is what I mean when I talk about understanding your terrain.

You cannot address what you cannot see.

The more clearly you can see your internal environment — what your body is carrying, where it is struggling, what it has built — the more precisely you can support it.

The scale is not the story.

Your body is far more interesting than that number.

If you’re in the LA area and want to book a scan, use code BOD-MEGHAN for 25% off at BOD.

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If this resonated, I’d love to know: have you ever had a DEXA scan? And if not, what number or metric are you currently tracking that you wonder if you should let go of? Let me know in the comments. I read and reply to every response.

And, if you’re ready to build a genuinely comprehensive picture of your own terrain, not just a number on a scale, but a real understanding of what your body is carrying and what it’s built, I’m currently taking a very limited number of new 1:1 coaching clients. Book a consultation here.

And, if you have any other questions or comments, don’t hesitate to ask me any time in my weekly Q&A in my paid subscriber channel. If you’re not a paid subscriber, sign up below.

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