Bioimpedance Testing in Macomb County, Michigan

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Bioimpedance Testing in Macomb County, Michigan


Hello, my name is Diane Delf and I’m the Director of Weight Loss Management and Healthy Programs here at Total Health Systems, in Macomb County, Michigan. Today we’re here to talk to you about the bioimpedance testing. It’s a great way to find out what your body composition is.

So a couple of things, before you come in to have a bioimpedance testing, you need to fill out a form, which you can either take off the website or you can get one when you arrive. It’s going to have information about your name, where you live, but most importantly, your health history. You talk to us about different things you may have, chronic issues, as well as if you have any labs, or if you have any blood work you want to bring in. Also, your medications and supplements.

Once we go through your health care history I want to make sure that you are ready to do the testing, we’ll go ahead and start that. What your job is before you arrive though is not only filling out the form but also preparing for the test. There’s just a few things you need to do. One is you can’t eat for 4 hours before the test. We want to make sure that we have a little bit of an empty belly. You can’t exercise for 12 hours, and the whole idea is that we want you to be hydrated. If you are dehydrated, your muscles are going to be smaller because your muscles have blood flow which requires fluids and it’s going to show more fat and nobody wants that. So these are the things to make sure you are not dehydrated.

So you won’t be able to exercise for 12 hours before your test, and we can schedule that around your workout program. No alcohol for 24 hours, for the same reason. Alcohol dehydrates us. And, you need to drink 32 ounces of water 1 hour before the test. So, you can just plan it out. 32 ounces is pretty much easy to consume. You can still use the bathroom and void. It’s not like an ultrasound. You don’t have to hold it. So, make sure you’re well hydrated for the same reason. Also, no caffeine the day of your test. I know, sometimes that’s a big one. I actually have patients who will come in with their thermos of coffee, so they can have their coffee right after our test is done. And the last one is you cannot wear pantyhose. That is important, because we need one bare foot to do the testing on.

So once you arrive, and you’ve done your pre-op, and your testing is all ready for us, then we’ll go ahead and get you ready. So Laurie is going to help us out today. So what you would do then is come in. I would take you to the scale and weigh you in. I need an accurate weight. I would measure you. I need an accurate height, I also need a blood pressure, so we’ll do that as well. Once we’ve done those things, we’ll go ahead and do a measurement on you, because we want to see your before and after, if you’re part of one of our programs. So, we’re going to go ahead and have Laurie come onto the table here, and get her ready for the test.

Okay, we’re now going to start our bioimpedance testing on Laurie. So once again, Laurie is prepared for her testing. She has followed all the procedure guidelines so she is ready. She’s lying comfortably on a table. The big thing is you can’t have any body parts touching, so I’m just going to ask Laurie to move her arm over there. I have already put the electrodes. I have it on her wrist, her finger, her ankle and her toe. Once we’re ready for the test, I just attach these to those electrodes and we’ll be all ready to do the testing. Here’s the machine right here, the testing analyzer. The information will be put into here and then I will put the numbers into my computer and I can analyze her test.

So when we’re preparing for the test, the big thing is to just try to be as relaxed as possible. Usually though this part I do some diaphragm breathing teaching. I’ll teach a little bit about meditation guided imagery. We talk about the cross here, it’s the diaphragm, the largest muscle of the respiratory system. So usually I’ll go ahead and ask Laurie to go ahead and just do some nice breathing, in through your nose, and then out through your mouth, just slow, slow breathing, diaphragmatic breathing. What it does is it makes your whole system relax and quiet, and it helps us to help to pick up a better rhythm as well.

So she’s doing a great job. She’s breathing in through her nose, and then out through her mouth. So she’s nice and relaxed now. So once she’s feeling like she’s relaxed, I simply put these little electrodes, or these little devices on the electro pads that she’s got on her. It’s going to pick it up. It takes probably less than 5 minutes, once I get the numbers correct, and then, we’re all set with Laurie. So, you’re all set. You did great.

Now the next part is I will take those numbers, and I will put them in my computer system, and then I will analyze them. Now the report, the body composition report is so important. It gives us so much information. The information we’re inputting is patient name, date of birth, how old the patient is, how much they weigh, how tall they are, and the activity level, because we are looking to see what the body composition is on this particular patient.

What’s wonderful about the test, and the first thing we usually look at is hydration status. We’re going to look at the health of the cells. We’re going to look at how well hydrated we are, how the much water is on the inside the cells, and how much water’s on the outside of cells. The more fluid on the inside of the cell the better, of course because this is bringing great nutrients in. We don’t want as much fluid on the outside, because that is when our patients come in and complain of being swollen up and they’re very uncomfortable. And it’s not as healthy, because we want to have more of the fluid inside the cell. So that is a very important thing we find out with this bioimpedance testing, the health of your cells.

It’s also going to tell us about your body composition. It’s going to tell us how much of your body is lean muscle, and Laurie has a lot of lean muscle here, and it tells how much is fat. So, we want you to be well hydrated, so it’s an accurate testing, and then we can find out what your percentage of fat is, and how much of it is muscle. The goal, of course, of your weight loss program and wellness program is to get your cells in better health, more fluid on the inside. But more importantly for some people who need to lose that weight, who want to get that weight off, is to have their body burning fat and not muscle. Muscle is so important and is integral to the program. We want to make sure you are keeping yourself in a state where you’re eating well and you’re hydrating yourself so you’re not burning muscle.

So once the test is done and the program is complete, I can give you the information on your muscle, your fat, and tell you about your fluid status. We can also tell you about your basal metabolic rate, which is the rate that your body burns calories when it’s at rest. So, that’s very important because we will then base your food program on that number right there. It’s also going to tell us your body mass index, which is very important as well. So, in addition to that, we will test you on a pretty, periodic basis, because we want to make sure as you go on through your program you are not burning muscle, you’re continuing to burn fat. So if you’re interested in coming in and finding out your hydration status, the health of your cells, how healthy is your body running on the inside?

Are you wondering if you had too much fluid in your system on the outside your cells.? We can let you know about that. If you’re interested in starting a weight loss program, I always do this as a baseline to make sure we know exactly what’s going on with your body. Then we can start doing your program. We can also let you know what kind of food plan we can put you on. We want you to lose your weight at a healthy rate. We don’t want it to be lagging along but keeping you healthy and burning fat and not muscle the whole time. So, if you’re interested, give us a call. We can set you up for an appointment, and we’ll be glad to help you.

Bioimpedance Testing in Macomb County, Michigan

At Total Health Systems we are “a multidisciplinary practice that provides both traditional medical and holistic therapies with a two-pronged ‘corrective’ and ‘wellness’ approach.”

We are a healthcare facility that is interested in treating “you”, and not a disease or condition. If you are interested in Bioimpedance Testing in Macomb County, Michigan. Give us a call today!

Bioimpedance Testing in Macomb County, Michigan

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