I am having my surgery on the 17th July and on Friday had my first visit to the John Flynn Obesity Clinic (Qld,Australia).

I saw the clinic nurse and the dietician and had a Body Composition Analysis test.

Has anyone else had one of these?

It was FANTASTIC!!!!:clap2:

I learnt exactly how much fat, lean muscle tissue and Fluid I have in my body....this determined my metabolic rate and my target weight.

I was amazed to find out some of these statistics:

I am 5ft 7in (170cm)

I weigh 276lbs (125.5kg)

I have 138lbs of lean muscle!!! ( Being obese for over 5 yrs and having PCOS, which causes elevated levels of testosterone, has caused me to gain a huge amount of muscle mass.).

My dietician told me that because I've been obese more tha 5 yrs (7-8yrs) I've been doing weight traing 24/7 just carrying all the excess weight around.

I have 138lbs of fat!! (which means I am 50% muscle & organs and 50% fat)

My aim is to have 25% fat so I have to lose half of my fat.

If I don't lose any muscle mass my target weight is actually 195lbs (88kg) .....which means I have aprox 81lbs to lose.(as you can see below I want to lose a little more)

If I do lose muscle mass (by not exercising as my weight decreases) then I will have more weight to lose.

My BMR (basal metabolic rate) is 2070 cals a day which means I burn up this amount of calories a day just by breathing and resting. ( just goes to show how much I over eat!!)

I have 71% fluid in my body (this is perfect as normal is between 69 and 74%).

I must admit this test was a real boost for me as I had not anticipated that I had so much muscle....I thought I was ALL fat!

My dietician has told me to throw away my scales as the amount I weigh is not an indication of success...it is the amount of body fat that I lose so I have to concentrate on retaining my muscle and losing 1/2 of my fat.

As she said....two people can be the same height and weight yet one can be a size 10 and the other a size 14 .....it totally depends on their bone structure, muscle mass, fluid retention and fat mass.

I think that many of you would agree that having been obese for a long time you really lose touch with your body. I know I often feel that I have no idea what is going on inside me.

I would really recommend having this test done as it gives you a clear and realistic indication of what your body is like (under all the fat) and for many (like me) can give you a better understanding of how your body is working.

That is very cool. Where and how do you get one done....who do you go to? What does it cost?

I had mine done with the dietician (nutritionist).

She attatched electrodes to my feet and hands and ran an electrical current through me....don't worry, you can't feel it.

The muscle conducts electricity and the fat blocks the electricity.

Then she entered the data into the computer and gave me a printout of the results.

I have no idea what it costs as it is part of my treatment but you could contact your dietician (nutritionist) and ask them if they do it. I'm sure you will find one near you who can do it for you.