Inbody scan results can be tricky to read if you are not knowledgeable about physiology and the human body. This blog post helps to break down how to read and dissect all of the information included in your Inbody body composition scan results sheet. We dive into everything from understanding body fat, and lean muscle mass to water retention. Let’s dive into the Inbody scan report.
The Inbody is one of several trusted body composition scans on the market.
Inbody Body Composition Analysis
The Inbody Body Composition Analysis breaks down your overall body makeup and results from the scan. It includes everything from your total body weight to your muscle mass index and more. Here’s a quick breakdown of each section in the Inbody Body Composition Analysis:
- Intracellular Water: This is the amount of water that resides within your body’s cells.
- Extracellular Water: This is the amount of water that resides outside of your body’s cells. If there is a large increase in ECW and not ICW this is often a sign of inflammation from overtraining or other health problems.
- Dry Lean Mass: This is the amount of protein and minerals contained within your body. This is also what makes up the building blocks of muscle. You want this to increase to be sure you are gaining overall muscle mass.
- Body Fat Mass: This is the amount of body fat that you carry in your body. It includes surface level (subcutaneous) and internal (visceral) body fat.
The totals to the right of these boxes show the total body water, total lean body mass aka muscle mass, and your overall combined weight. This body scan result includes water, muscle, and fat weight.
Muscle-Fat Analysis
Next is the results of your Muscle-Fat Analysis from your Inbody scan. This includes a detailed analysis of each muscle group in your body as well as where you are carrying the most amount of fat.
Weight: Overall body weight.
Skeletal Muscle Mass: This is the overall muscle mass in your body and is made up of slow-twitch (Type I) and fast-twitch (Type II) muscle fibers.
Body Fat Mass: This is the amount of body fat in pounds that your body currently holds.
Obesity Analysis
The obesity analysis section looks at your overall body fat makeup including Body Mass Index and Percentage of body fat. These are 2 of the most important Inbody scan results to read and interpret.
BMI (Body Mass Index): This is the value derived from the mass and height of a person. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height and is expressed in units of kg/m², resulting from mass in kilograms and height in meters.
PBF(Percent Body Fat): This is the percentage of your body that is made up of fat. This is a great benchmark for how lean you are going to look and is often looked to as a bar for health/training progress.
Segmental Lean Analysis
The Segmental Lean Analysis breaks down by body part the amount of lean muscle that a person has built. This includes the arms, legs, and trunk. This can help to show if you have any imbalances in right versus left side or disproportional strength in one appendage.
Right Arm: Measurement of the weight in pounds and desired percentile based on the current weight of the right arm.
Left Arm: Measurement of the weight in pounds and desired percentile based on the current weight of the left arm.
Trunk: Measurement of the weight in pounds and desired percentile based on the current weight of the trunk or abdominal area.
Right Leg: Measurement of the weight in pounds and desired percentile based on the current weight of the right leg.
Left Leg: Measurement of the weight in pounds and desired percentile based on the current weight of the left leg.
You want to maintain an even amount of lean muscle in both your arms and legs. The trunk or abdomen of a person often holds the most fat. This is why the abs are so hard to get visible and that little bit of stubborn body fat is the last to go.
ECW/TBW Analysis
The Extracellular Water/Total Body Water Analysis is the balance and total amount of water in your body.
A healthy range for your ECW / TBW Inbody Analysis is a result of 0.360 to 0.390. You can cut this back by reducing sodium and overall liquid intake.
However, not consuming enough water has a large number of drawbacks such as a lack of protein synthesis which is essential for muscle growth. This Inbody section can be altered depending on what time of day you take the Inbody Composition test. This is why it is suggested to do the Inbody test in the morning while your body is depleted of most excess water. This will give your Inbody test the best result and make interpreting your scan much easier.
Inbody Composition History
Inbody scans are not a one-and-done deal. Getting a full Inbody scan every 1 – 3 months is one of the best ways of tracking not only your health but progress in the gym.
Comparing your Inbody Composition History scan results can show you in hard numbers how much muscle and fat you have lost or gained over time.
This Inbody scan result is key to pay attention to as it will give you a clear idea of what is working in your diet and training and what needs to be changed.
Weight: Overall and total body weight.
Skeletal Muscle Mass: Amount of lean total muscle in weight that is on your body frame.
Percent Body Fat: This shows how lean you are and your overall ratio of muscle to fat.
ECW/TBW: This shows exactly how much water is held at any one time.
All of these metrics should slowly improve over time and may move in a certain direction based on what your overall nutrition goals include.
Segmental Fat Analysis
This Inbody result is very similar to the Segmental Lean Analysis. This shows exactly how much fat you hold in each arm, leg, and trunk/abdomen. This can clearly show how much more body fat you may need to lose to gain visible abs or to ensure your limbs are even in size.
A good target body fat percentage for men is between 12-20% and for women 20-30%. However, this can be largely dependent on age and genetics. If you are heavily into bodybuilding the respective body fat percentages may be even lower in the 8 – 11% body fat range.
Basic Metabolic Rate
The basic metabolic rate is the number of calories you burn in a complete state of rest. This means the number of calories you would burn if you did nothing but sleep all day.
This result is important because you can use this to determine how many calories you need to consume depending on if your goal is to lose or gain weight. You do however need to factor in exercise and even movement as these will burn calories. Your true amount of calories burned per day will be higher than your basic metabolic rate but this is another great piece of benchmark information.
Visceral Fat Level
Visceral fat level is the amount of fat that surrounds your internal organs. This type of fat is very dangerous and has been linked to a host of health problems.
A good visceral fat level is anything below 11. Anything above this number means you are in the obese range and should take steps to lower this number.
The best way to lower your visceral fat score is to consume a healthy diet and work out regularly. Ideally, you want to get even lower than a number 10 visceral fat level but this is a good starting point.
Inbody Results Interpretation QR Code
The Inbody Results QR Code is a great resource and provides a mobile link to a webpage on inbody.com to help you understand your Inbody results in greater detail.
This is an important resource to have and to use because it can provide you with a ton of valuable information that may be hard to understand from just looking at your inbody scan results.
The QR code will give you access to things like your body fat percentage, how much muscle mass you have, and your overall health level.
how to get the best results from an Inbody scan
Inbody and nutritionists provide several tips to get the best results from your Inbody scan. The following are good rules to follow before your Inbody scan:
- Get your Inbody scan in the morning hours between 8 am – 10 am.
- Do not consume any food or water before your Inbody scan.
- Get your repeat or additional Inbody scans under the same conditions. If you run before your first scan does the same for the second.
- Be conscious of having bulky items in your pockets or extra weight on your body.
- If you are bloated from the night before you may want to wait for another day as your water weight may be higher on that given day.
- Stick to your regular meal plan for the most successful scan.
Reading your Inbody Scan Results in Conclusion
By following the tips in this blog post you should be able to easily read and understand your inbody scan results. These results can provide you with a ton of valuable information that can help you better reach your fitness goals.
If you have any questions about Inbody or how to use it effectively be sure to reach out to one of our certified coaches.
If you feel we missed anything when it comes to dissecting Inbody scan results please leave a comment below!
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