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What is a DXA Body Composition Scan?
What is a DXA Body Composition Scan?
A DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan is a highly advanced, low-dose X-ray that takes a literal image of your internal physical makeup. It gives you accurate, clinical-grade insights into your body fat, muscle mass, visceral fat and bone health. Whether you’re working towards a health or fitness goal, monitoring changes as you age, or simply want a reliable baseline to measure your progress, a DXA scan gives you objective data you can actually use to make more informed decisions.
Book a DXA Body Composition Scan
Book a DXA Body Composition Scan
If you'd like to book a scan, you can use our online booking engine.
Initial scans start from $185 and take just 20 minutes.
What will a Body Composition Scan tell me?
What will a Body Composition Scan tell me?
You will get a printed report and a run down by a clinician on your data. This report will show:
Your total body fat percentage and mass, compared against healthy, evidence-based reference ranges for your age and sex.
Your exact lean muscle mass, broken down by each arm, leg, and your torso to help identify any side-to-side imbalances or injury risks.
Your visceral fat estimate, giving you a clear picture of the hidden, metabolically active fat stored around your internal organs.
Your android/gynoid ratio, which maps exactly how your body distributes fat between your midsection (android) and your hips and thighs (gynoid) to provide deeper insight into your metabolic health.
Your bone mineral content, utilizing the scan's X-ray technology to provide a helpful baseline of your skeletal weight and strength.
Together, these metrics provide a clear, objective blueprint of your current physical function—giving you the exact insights you need to create any change, train for true longevity, and maintain your long-term independence.
Who should consider a body scan?
Who should consider a body scan?
We think almost everyone can benefit from establishing a true, objective baseline of data to work from. However, a DXA scan is an incredibly powerful tool specifically for:
People actively losing weight: To ensure you are safely losing fat, not burning through hard-earned muscle (which has very different long-term health effects).
Older adults: To proactively monitor for muscle loss (sarcopenia) or frailty. Maintaining muscle mass is one of our best defenses against falls and loss of independence as we age.
Anyone with metabolic risk factors: If you have a higher waist circumference, prediabetes, or high blood pressure, tracking visceral fat gives you a clear target for reducing cardiometabolic risk.
Athletes & active individuals: To track muscle gain, fat loss, and physical adaptations from structured training programs far more reliably than a standard scale allows.
People managing chronic illness or unintentional weight loss: To help safely identify malnutrition or concerning muscle depletion early on.
What to know before booking
What to know before booking
Getting your baseline is a simple, comfortable process, but there are a few practical things to keep in mind:
It’s safe, fast, and easy: The scan takes just 10 to 20 minutes. It uses a very low dose of radiation—similar to or even less than a standard background medical X-ray.
Pregnancy: Because DXA uses X-ray technology, these scans are not performed if you are or might be pregnant.
Recent Medical Imaging: If you have recently had an MRI, CT, or other scan that required contrast dye, barium, or radioactive isotopes, you will need to wait 7 to 10 days for those materials to clear your system before having your DXA scan.
Contact Forward Health
Contact Forward Health
If you'd like to chat about whether a DXA Body Scan is right for you, please contact us via email.
Body Scan + Mindset Integration
Body Scan + Mindset Integration
If you're looking for something more holistic, you also have the option to upgrade your scan to a Mindset & Goal Integration Session with Jenna.
We understand that seeing raw data about your body can be confronting at times. It is a delicate balance to value our physical health—the body that will keep us moving for life—as well as our sanity and mind!
It’s incredibly common in today's society to feel a constant war in your head around food and movement. Often, we know exactly what we need to do, but we get completely stuck when it comes to actually doing it. More often than not, it's your best and worst friend, the mind, that gets in the way.
We actively discourage "all-or-nothing" approaches. We want to help you find a sustainable, easy health journey that actually works for you. Together, we look at the big picture: your goals, your lifestyle routines, and your relationship with food. Using an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) framework, Jenna will help you break through the mental "hooks" like food guilt or restriction, upskilling you with the tools to build daily habits that support a life you actually value.
Our Integrated Package
Our Integrated Package
DXA Initial Body Composition Scan + Mindset Integration
$250 | 50 Minutes
Our standard baseline scan paired with a dedicated 30-minute therapy session to unpack your data, dismantle food guilt, and design a sustainable health routine.
To book, imply select the "DXA Body Scan with Mindset Integration" option through our online portal.
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