Your DEXA, InBody, or Bod Pod report, line by line
Where lean mass, body fat %, and resting rate sit on each printout, what the other lines mean, and which changes between two scans are real.
Find your three numbers on the printout
Pick your scanner. Layouts change between machines and clinics, so match the words, not the position.
Sample DEXA report (made-up numbers)
Body composition summary
- Total Mass172.0 lb
- Fat Mass44.0 lb
- Lean Mass128.0 lbThis is your Lean mass
- Total Body Fat %25.6%This is your Body fat %
- Est. RMR1,624 kcalThis is your Resting rate
- Lean mass
- Lean Mass, in the Total row of the summary table. Some reports print grams: divide by 453.6.
- Body fat %
- Total Body Fat %, or Region % Fat in the Total row.
- Resting rate
- Est. RMR, only when the provider adds it. Many DEXA reports have no resting rate.
Sample InBody report (made-up numbers)
Body composition analysis
- Weight172.0 lb
- Lean Body Mass130.2 lbThis is your Lean mass
- Body Fat Mass41.8 lb
- Skeletal Muscle Mass72.8 lb
- PBF24.3%This is your Body fat %
- BMR1,646 kcalThis is your Resting rate
- Lean mass
- Lean Body Mass, near the top. Skeletal Muscle Mass is a smaller number, not this one.
- Body fat %
- PBF, short for percent body fat, under the obesity analysis.
- Resting rate
- BMR, often in a side panel. It is worked out from lean mass, not measured.
Sample Bod Pod report (made-up numbers)
Test results
- Body Mass172.0 lb
- % Fat26.2%This is your Body fat %
- % Fat Free Mass73.8%
- Fat Mass45.1 lb
- Fat-Free Mass126.9 lbThis is your Lean mass
- Estimated RMR1,610 kcal/dayThis is your Resting rate
- Lean mass
- Fat-Free Mass, in the results table.
- Body fat %
- % Fat, at the top of the results.
- Resting rate
- Estimated RMR, lower down. An estimate, not a measurement.
One person can get three answers from three machines. A mark is an estimate until the rescan.
Each main line in plain words
- Weight, Total Mass, or Body Mass
- Everything you weigh that morning, water and breakfast included.
- Lean mass, Lean Body Mass, or Fat-Free Mass
- Everything that is not fat: muscle, organs, and water among it. Calories and protein are built on it. If it holds through a diet, you kept your muscle.
- Body fat %
- Fat as a share of your weight. It moves when either fat or lean mass moves, so read it with the pounds beside it.
- Fat mass
- The same fat in pounds. Easier to follow than a percent.
- Skeletal Muscle Mass (InBody)
- The muscle you can train, one part of lean mass. Watch which way it goes.
- Arms, legs, and trunk (DEXA)
- Lean and fat split by region. It shows whether your legs held while you ate less.
- Resting rate, BMR, or RMR
- Calories you would burn lying still all day. On most reports it is estimated from lean mass, the way our calculator does it.
Why scanners give different numbers
Each machine measures one thing and works out the rest.
DEXA passes a low-dose x-ray over you and reads how much of each region is fat or lean tissue.
InBody sends a small current through you. Water carries it, so the machine reads your water and estimates lean mass from that.
Bod Pod seals you in a pod and measures the air you push aside. Volume and weight give your density, and density gives body fat %.
The same person can read a few points apart from one machine to the next, because each has its own error. Compare a scanner only with itself.
Which changes are real, and which are noise
Before you read a change, check that both scans were taken the same way.
- Same machine, and the same clinic if you can.
- Same time of day, after the same food and water.
- No hard workout the day before.
- Same light clothes, nothing in your pockets.
InBody numbers swing the most, because they follow your water: a salty dinner can move lean mass a pound or two. DEXA and Bod Pod drift less, but a change of a pound or two can still be the test's own wobble.
A change you can trust is bigger than that, and points the same way on the next scan too.
When to rescan
Around 90 days after your baseline. Sooner, and a real change is hard to tell from noise. Much later, and you lose time to adjust. At day 45, check your lifts and protein against the plan instead of paying for a scan.
Put your numbers to work
Lean mass in hand, the calculator turns it into a resting burn, a calorie target, and a protein target.
Use the free calculator