Got a DEXA scan and now I’m just extremely confused.
24F, 5’7”, 135-140 lbs
I stopped microdosing tirzepatide about two months ago. The food noise has definitely come back, but for the most part it’s been manageable. Since I’m trying to maintain my current weight/body composition without tirz, I recently decided to get both an InBody scan and a DEXA scan so I could have some objective numbers to use as a reference point going forward or even improve upon.
Now, I just feel confused and even slightly discouraged with the massive difference.
My InBody scan put me at 21.2% body fat, while my DEXA scan put me at 31.4% body fat.
I understand that these are completely different methods of measuring/estimating body composition and that neither is going to be perfectly accurate, but I genuinely don’t know what to do with such a huge discrepancy. In terms of finding a good reference point to keep track of my progress, getting both scans wasn’t very helpful. It only confused me more, lol.
What’s more confusing isn’t just the difference between the two numbers, but the conflicting information I keep finding when I try to research what a “healthy” body fat percentage is for women. Body fat charts and reference photos online often describe ~31–32% as above average, “poor,” or even overweight depending on the source. I really don’t feel like those descriptions—or the reference images—match what I see in the mirror, which makes the DEXA result even more confusing and hard to reconcile.
I’ve attached both scan results as well as the most recent photos I have of my body for context.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has had both DEXA and InBody/BIA scans done. Were your results this dramatically different? Which measurement did you find more useful for tracking your body composition over time?