Anyone here have results from both that varied greatly? I have my first DEXA scan scheduled in 3 weeks. I've been consistently working out for the past 15 months, and I've really had my nutrition locked in recently in an attempt to reach 10% body fat. I look good in the mirror, and at this point, the percentage number is just a goal.

I've got a regular scale that just measures body weight, but my wife recently bought one of the cheap BIA scales, so I've started tracking data points on it. IMO, they are questionable. For instance, over the past 21 days, it says I have lost 6 pounds, but only 0.5 lbs of it is fat. I do resistance training 4 days a week, walk for an hour every morning, and 30 minute jog twice a week. I'm eating 1.2 (175g) grams of protein per pound of body weight right now, almost 2 (280g) grams of carbs per pound, and 40 grams of fat per day. I drink at least a gallon of water everyday. Scale says I'm 14.2% BF. If I do the Navy tape method, I come out to 11.7%.

TLDR: I have a scale that's got me in my head about my own numbers, and I'm questioning its accuracy.

Those things can be very inconsistent. Highly dependent on body water and electrolyte distribution.

Here's my post about how they correlated when I did mine a few months back.
https://texags.com/forums/48/topics/3599480/replies/72083573

DEXA assumes normal amounts of hydration, keep that in mind.

My Withings scale is consistently 3-4% higher than DEXA scans that I take at the same time of day every few months.

Got my scan scheduled for this Wednesday morning at 9 am. BIA scale this morning has me at 13.8% body fat. Navy tape has me at 8.0%. BMI got me at a 22.9%. Really just trying to get that magical 10% number. Here's an image after my walk yesterday.

DEXA put me at 16.2% this morning. There ain't no way.

Where did you get your DEXA done at. No way in hell that is 16.2% lol. I was getting DEXA scans 2x a year in college while on the track team and I was typically between 13%-17% depending on what point of the season and based on how I looked vs your photo I would guess you are around 10%

vmiaptetr said:

---

DEXA put me at 16.2% this morning. There ain't no way.

---

Absolutely no way. My last DEXA had me at 13.6% and I wasn't quite as lean as you are in that pic.

At the Huffines Institute on campus. Across from Reed.

vmiaptetr said:

---

DEXA put me at 16.2% this morning. There ain't no way.

---

Did you eat or drink anything in the morning? Are you on any supplements like creatine, or recently cycle off?

Did they look at your bone density as well?

Body water, especially muscle water, plays a big factor in DEXA calculations. I would agree that you are probably way leaner than 16%.

Yeah did you drink a gallon of water right before? Also how much does it cost to get a scan done there?

DEXA was scheduled for 9 am.

Got up at 5:30 am, and drank 10 oz. off coffee.

Ate breakfast at 6 am (2 eggs, 2 corn tortillas, and 300 grams of cherries). Also drank 28 oz of water with 5 g of creatine and took my multivitamin.

Did morning bathroom things.

7-8 am, I walked 3.5 miles.

Drank another 28 oz. of water.

Drove to Huffines. Used their restroom. Got the DEXA right on time.

$85

Ok, yeah, I bet that stuff threw things off. The added food and fluid in your intestines probably gave the appearance of additional visceral fat. Though the walk could have give the appearance of increased lower leg muscle, as it may have increased a pump to your muscles a little. But if it caused and edema from the walking, that could be confused for non muscle mass. Also, supposedly calcium supplements/multivitamins can throw it off, though I suspect this to be negligible.

When I had it done, I was told to fast and avoid exercise for some period of time before hand. I can't recall exactly how long though.

Here's images. Even looking at the photo, I'm just like, "How did they calculate 16.2% body fat out of there?" There's hardly any fat on the image.

Wonder if that rod affected anything. Doesn't look like it did much by the breakdown of the two legs, but it might have?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14689806/

I had one done at the facility at A&M back in February when I turned 49. I did my normal morning protocol of fasting since dinner at 6pm and didn't drink coffee until afterwards. I'm wondering if your normal morning protocol added a bit to the composition. I'm just a tall and skinny cyclist without any kind of cutting, etc.

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 157 lbs
Body Fat %: 15.6
BMI: 19.6

I think the key with these is to do them annually or whatever cadence you want and compare against that; not any other measuring system. My home scale says I'm around 8.6%, which I know isn't realistic, but at least gives me trends.