Treatments

Body Composition Analysis.

Your weight management clinic in Cambridge.

BMI is widely used as a convenient indicator of a healthy weight range.  It is also generally accepted that it has its limitations and will produce incorrect results for muscular people and for TOFIs (People Thin on the Outside, Fat on the Inside). i.e.  People who appear slim but have very little muscle and a surprisingly high proportion of fat.  This becomes particularly important as we age. 

The amount of muscle we have tends to decline with age and can eventually reach the point where movement or standing from a sitting position becomes difficult.  Although regular exercise can help retain and build muscle even as we age.

We also tend to lose muscle when we diet and rapid weight loss can lead to excessive muscle loss.  Seeing a 5kg weight loss is not the whole story.

Some of the things we can measure include:

How we can use this insight :

The Inbody will develop a graph of your overall weight loss.

It will also produce a graph of your corresponding muscle loss.  By comparing these we have a much better understanding both how effective the weight loss is and importantly, how healthy it is.  This will enable us to optimally adjust your dose of Maunjaro and also provide personalised advice on diet and exercise.

The measurement of percentage body fat is a far more accurate measurement of  your body composition, essential for healthy weight loss and long term success.

Fat distribution is as important as the amount of fat.  Fat stored subcutaneously in your arms and legs is far less unhealthy than fat stored around the middle of your body.   This is especially true of the visceral fat stored deep in your abdomen around your vital organs, including liver, stomach and intestines.  

Visceral fat is metabolically active and inflammatory.  it is also a marker for a far more sinister process. 

As we gain weight insulin resistance increases and it becomes increasingly difficult for the body to store fat that is circulating in the blood in the normal way, in the fat cells just under our skin.

This increases the amount of fat circulating in the blood as triglycerides.  Since the body cannot easily store the fat in the blood as normal fat, it finds other places to store it.  Much of it is stored  in the abdominal cavity as visceral fat but what is even worse is that some of the fat is stored in places where fat should never be, the pancreas, muscles (think wagu beef) and liver.  This is called ectopic fat.  

Both visceral and ectopic fat are inflammatory Which is analogous to rust in a car.  

The rust starts as a small patch which ieft untreated expands and overtime eats into the fabric of the car, eventually leading to holes in the chassis and collapse of the suspension.  Resulting in the early demise of the car.

Similarly insulin resistance is an insidious process that silently undermines our health until its effects emerge as heart disease or diabetes.  

Small amounts are not a big issue but as our waist lines increase so does the amount of the visceral and ectopic fat.  It is widely accepted that keeping our waist measurement to less than 1/2 our height is safe.  As our waist lines expand beyond this marker, the proportion of fat stored in these forbidden locations increases and over time leads to heart disease, diabetes, non alcoholic fatty liver, pancreatitis, dementia and in many cases a slow decline into an early death.

 

Why is Visceral Fat so Important

What our customers say about us.

Always very happy to see Lou and her team. Excellent service as ever.

 

Barbara

August 2022

Would just like to say all the staff at Cosmex are wonderful. So professional, highly skilled at what they do and they take time to listen to you! Look forward to seeing you all again soon many thanks 😊

 

Debra

January 2021

Extraordinarily kind and informative – I left feeling confident and comfortable with my decisions and results. Lou is warm and supportive with an eye for what will make an impact without doing too much. I am so grateful!

 

Sarah

July 2023

Do you have any questions?

If you’d like to know more about this treatment, please complete the below form. We’d be happy to help. 

Clinic Information.

Get in Touch

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Opening Hours

Lou Sommereux

Clinic Director