Dexa Results: 50 Years Old: Feel like this can't be accurate?

MadaFacor

Member
I'm 50 years old now and began training consistently in February 2023. I started with GLPs because I was morbidly obese—at 5'7", I was close to 290 lbs. In July 2023, I began TRT with my levels around 170. The combination of weight loss and testosterone has been life-changing. I can't believe how much my life has transformed.

I've been training four to five days a week, about 10 hours weekly, for nearly a year and a half. While I didn’t follow the best advice from many here, I added some peptides and a few other oils at moderate levels before getting into the best shape. Honestly, at 50, I wasn't willing to train for five years before trying to go big. I also made significant improvements to my diet, meal planning, and prepping. Meal prepping 15 out of 21 meals each week at a minimum. The rest of the meals are very well planned, heavy and protein with moderate carbs and limited fat. I've also focused on supplementation and have a pretty thorough supplement regime. I allowed myself at least one cheat day but always made careful and lean choices. For the first time, I focused on high protein and reducing fat intake relative to macros. Although I’ve been a bit lazy about tracking macros outside of protein, I’ve avoided most processed foods and cut back on eating out to just once a week. My fat intake has drastically decreased, though there's still room for improvement. The difference has been night and day.

Since January 2024, I haven't lost more than a pound. Despite the scale not budging, I’ve dropped four pant sizes, so I know I've made progress.

I ran a DEXA scan in January that showed 25% body fat. I was disappointed, given the progress I’d made and how much I’d been lifting. Since then, I’ve done two small cycles and stayed consistent. One cycle was six weeks, and the other was ten, but I stopped after my lipids slightly slipped out of range.

After stopping the cycle, I decided to run another DEXA scan. The results were shocking—I lost 25 lbs of fat and gained 23 lbs of lean muscle.

I’m having trouble believing the results, but on the flip side, the comments I’ve received make it clear that what I’ve been doing is working.

What are your thoughts? Is this possible?
 

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That's called recomposition. Very common to newbies and given the added boost from PEDs and glp-1s it's HIGHLY possible
If I continue to push hard you think it's possible to drop another two three percent body fat and add a few more pounds by end of year? Sticking the TRT at this point as I need my blood work to level out. But still training like banshee.
 
If I continue to push hard you think it's possible to drop another two three percent body fat and add a few more pounds by end of year? Sticking the TRT at this point as I need my blood work to level out. But still training like banshee.
i dont see why not.
also what is wrong with your blood work?
 
what are you taking to improve your lipids?
Fish oil, fiber, and "a break." Putting additional emphasis on my cardio training which had dropped to about 80 minutes per week. Moved it back to 120 minutes minimum. I do have some Ezetimibe in route. Might give red rice yeast a run as well. This has not been an issue for me, ever, except for triglycerides when I was obese and was drinking heavily. So the out of range hdl and ldl numbers took me off guard.
 
How out of range are your lipids? Asking because I’m what I consider a little out of range. Lipids were never a problem for me until I hit 40. Now I’m half way to 50 and going through a similar recomp. I want to get lipids in range before my next cycle.
 
I recommend looking into Vit d3+super K moves the calcium in our arteries to our bones and other places, basically.

Ezetimibe will do you real good, but probably wouldnt hurt to microdose resuvostatin on top of that, maybe after you get bloods again on ezetimbe.

hopefully people that know more than me can chime in.
maybe if i say something controversial they will appear

No one needs statins, its a big pharma scheme to make money, they cause alzheimers and increase all cause mortality, the higher the cholesterol the better
 
Solid work! Hell yeah you can take it further.

Remember that DEXA scans are not perfect. The 1st may have been skewed unfavorably and the 2nd may be skewed favorably. Even if that's true you've still made impressive progress. Dexa is better used to track trends over time rather than focusing on a single scan.
 
ezetimibe citrus bergamot and a high dose of k2 with d3 should be in place to improve lipids you can throw in additional OTC stuff to help lipids but you need to make sure your blood pressure is alright and you're not getting calcium build up in your arteries
 
Fish oil, fiber, and "a break." Putting additional emphasis on my cardio training which had dropped to about 80 minutes per week. Moved it back to 120 minutes minimum. I do have some Ezetimibe in route. Might give red rice yeast a run as well. This has not been an issue for me, ever, except for triglycerides when I was obese and was drinking heavily. So the out of range hdl and ldl numbers took me off guard.

You have a family history of ASCVD and FH, your ApoB is 157mg/dL and you’re going to try ezetimibe and red yeast rice?

When do you want to die? Even with those interventions you’ll be lucky to get into your 60s.

Ignore most of the bullshit in this thread, except for the comment about Repatha. Get some Rosuvastatin. Usually, I’d suggest starting with 5mg QD but for you, 10mg. Then find some bempedoic acid. Start the statin first, watch for side effects, then after a month start the ezetimibe and bempedoic acid. If you can get the Repatha add that as well.

Repatha has a copay card that’s easy to get, otherwise it ain’t cheap. Bempedoic acid ain’t cheap in the US. If your insurance won’t cover Nexlizet (bempedoic acid and ezetimibe combined) you can order it from Indian pharma spots like pct.zone.

I ain’t your cardiologist but I want to see your ApoB under 60mg/dL and I’d like you to get a CT-CAC. Of course diet and exercise are table stakes as well as psyllium fiber and fish oil. Once that’s all sorted and presuming your BP is good THEN you can ramp up the gear again and maybe not for so soon.

As for your dexa question. Same thing happened to me. I saw +13lbs of lean tissue accrual in 4 months and then lost 10 of it a few months later. First test was coming off a blast and second was in a cut. I’m pretty sure the wild swings were from being “full” while on a blast and eating plenty of carbs and being flat after. Don’t stress, keep at it. Maybe take a diet break for a while and for fuck sake get your lipids sorted.

For context I’m 52yo, on all the things I listed, have an ApoB of 57mg/dL (before starting Repatha), a calcium score of 47 or so, and presently I’m 175 at 8.5% according to dexa down from a peak of 340 and god knows what, 60% bf?
 
You have a family history of ASCVD and FH, your ApoB is 157mg/dL and you’re going to try ezetimibe and red yeast rice?

When do you want to die? Even with those interventions you’ll be lucky to get into your 60s.

Ignore most of the bullshit in this thread, except for the comment about Repatha. Get some Rosuvastatin. Usually, I’d suggest starting with 5mg QD but for you, 10mg. Then find some bempedoic acid. Start the statin first, watch for side effects, then after a month start the ezetimibe and bempedoic acid. If you can get the Repatha add that as well.

Repatha has a copay card that’s easy to get, otherwise it ain’t cheap. Bempedoic acid ain’t cheap in the US. If your insurance won’t cover Nexlizet (bempedoic acid and ezetimibe combined) you can order it from Indian pharma spots like pct.zone.

I ain’t your cardiologist but I want to see your ApoB under 60mg/dL and I’d like you to get a CT-CAC. Of course diet and exercise are table stakes as well as psyllium fiber and fish oil. Once that’s all sorted and presuming your BP is good THEN you can ramp up the gear again and maybe not for so soon.

As for your dexa question. Same thing happened to me. I saw +13lbs of lean tissue accrual in 4 months and then lost 10 of it a few months later. First test was coming off a blast and second was in a cut. I’m pretty sure the wild swings were from being “full” while on a blast and eating plenty of carbs and being flat after. Don’t stress, keep at it. Maybe take a diet break for a while and for fuck sake get your lipids sorted.

For context I’m 52yo, on all the things I listed, have an ApoB of 57mg/dL (before starting Repatha), a calcium score of 47 or so, and presently I’m 175 at 8.5% according to dexa down from a peak of 340 and god knows what, 60% bf?
Appreciate the feedback. For reference , I do take this seriously. Soon as I got the results .. took all back to baseline. I check lipids normally every 3-4months and it is always in range. Last time was April so went a bit over on timing. Cardiac calcium score of 0 at age 47. I closely monitor BP (5-8 times per week) and currently averaging 123ish over 67. Will redo cardiac calcium shortly. Also track and monitor RHR and glucose multiple times per week. As well as sleep numbers. I will check lipids again in a month. If they are not seriously trending on the right direction, bigly, Iwill go find a specialist. Thanks for the feedback.
 
ezetimibe citrus bergamot and a high dose of k2 with d3 should be in place to improve lipids you can throw in additional OTC stuff to help lipids but you need to make sure your blood pressure is alright and you're not getting calcium build up in your arteries
Define high dose? Currently taking 2500 IU d3 and 100 mg mL3 daily (for over a year.)

My guess is I switched from OMAD to a high protein diet in feb and I am sure the amount of food has not helped. Strange how I am packing it down all day and still leaning out.

Blood pressure is closely monitored and reasonable. 123sh over 67nis.
 
Get your doc to prescribe Repatha. Ezetimibe is a good start, 5mg Resuvostatin EOD is a good addition.

One med at a time though. If you start with Ezetimibe, draw some bloods 4 weeks down the road and adjust/add accordingly
Going to give it 30 days back on OMAD with serious cardio. Will retest then involve a specialist if things have trending seriously the right direction.
 
Appreciate the feedback. For reference , I do take this seriously. Soon as I got the results .. took all back to baseline. I check lipids normally every 3-4months and it is always in range. Last time was April so went a bit over on timing. Cardiac calcium score of 0 at age 47. I closely monitor BP (5-8 times per week) and currently averaging 123ish over 67. Will redo cardiac calcium shortly. Also track and monitor RHR and glucose multiple times per week. As well as sleep numbers. I will check lipids again in a month. If they are not seriously trending on the right direction, bigly, Iwill go find a specialist. Thanks for the feedback.

If you already had a CAC at 47yo that was zero and your lipids are only skewed because of your cycle then things aren’t nearly as bad as I presumed.

No specialist will give you the advice I just gave you. The ACC still recommends high dose statin mono-therapy which has a greater risk of adverse side effects and is not nearly as effective as a poly-pharmacy approach.

“In range” isn’t really safe. An LDL of 100mg/dL does lead to an increasing plaque burden. Tom Dayspring recommends managing ApoB to <80mg/dL for normal folks and 60mg/dL for people with other risk factors like family history, BP, metabolic syndrome, etc.
 
If you already had a CAC at 47yo that was zero and your lipids are only skewed because of your cycle then things aren’t nearly as bad as I presumed.

No specialist will give you the advice I just gave you. The ACC still recommends high dose statin mono-therapy which has a greater risk of adverse side effects and is not nearly as effective as a poly-pharmacy approach.

“In range” isn’t really safe. An LDL of 100mg/dL does lead to an increasing plaque burden. Tom Dayspring recommends managing ApoB to <80mg/dL for normal folks and 60mg/dL for people with other risk factors like family history, BP, metabolic syndrome, etc.
Again, appreciated. Still going to be aggressive with it. Recently joined a research labs company that gets greatly discounted labs for the between months when insurance won't cover. Intend to take a deep dive on bloods and organ imaging through the rest of the year. Last round of significant organ imaging was a couple years ago and so much has changed in my body. Looking to build some additional lean mass but it in a healthy and reasonable way. Goal is to get to 10% bf at my current weight. 205 ish then maintain. Letssss goooo. But I really do appreciate the advice on this community has taught me a lot.
 
If you already had a CAC at 47yo that was zero and your lipids are only skewed because of your cycle then things aren’t nearly as bad as I presumed.

No specialist will give you the advice I just gave you. The ACC still recommends high dose statin mono-therapy which has a greater risk of adverse side effects and is not nearly as effective as a poly-pharmacy approach.

“In range” isn’t really safe. An LDL of 100mg/dL does lead to an increasing plaque burden. Tom Dayspring recommends managing ApoB to <80mg/dL for normal folks and 60mg/dL for people with other risk factors like family history, BP, metabolic syndrome, etc.
And I am likely prone to metabolic syndrome since I had it badly. So aggressive is my approach.
 
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