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Monday Medical: Technology helps resolutions

Rosie Kern / For the Steamboat Today

— How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Are you sticking to that new exercise regime and staying away from sweets? Or have your good intentions already faded?

Past experience tells me that making life changes is not easy. So I decided to look to technology available at Yampa Valley Medical Center for help in setting and reaching my goals in 2012.

My two New Year’s resolutions are related to health and fitness. The first one is to increase my strength so that I can improve my skills at skiing and horseback riding. The second one seems to be there every year: lose 10 pounds.



After the holidays, the number on the bathroom scale can be discouraging. But that number on the scale is only one measure of our health. Two other numbers are important and tell us even more about our overall fitness.

The first is your body mass index, which is a calculation based on your height and weight.



The second number that is important as a measure of overall health is your percentage of body fat. This number describes what percentage of your body is fat mass compared to lean muscle mass.

As we all know, if we have too much fat, particularly around our middle, we are at increased risk for health problems including heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

According to the National Institute of Health, a healthy adult male body should have between 6 and 24 percent body fat. For a healthy female, the recommended percentage is 14 to 31 percent.

To stay motivated for my new fitness routine, I decided to arm myself with some hard data. I underwent a body mass composition scan at YVMC. It was a painless procedure that took only a few minutes.

All I had to do was lay still as the bone-density machine scanned my body. The report yielded some useful data including my BMI score, my percentage of body fat and my bone-density score.

Mary Jo Wiedel, director of diagnostic imaging at YVMC, said the body composition scan is a useful tool for elite athletes and people looking to build strength and lose weight.

“The data helps individuals set realistic goals and track their progress,” Wiedel said. “This information helps individuals who are working with a nutritionist, athletic trainer or their physician to develop a fitness program and track results.

“Individuals should know that with this scan, there is a very small dose of radiation,” she said.

I reviewed my results with Peggy VanVliet, coordinator of SportsMed at YVMC, and I was glad to find out that my BMI was within normal range. However, I was not pleased with my percentage of body fat.

I also was not happy to discover that my bone density fell into the “increased risk for fractures” range. Looking at the data, VanVliet encouraged me to start on a strength-training program as soon as possible.

“Your numbers will improve if you start with a weight-training program,” VanVliet said. “You want to make sure that as you lose weight, you lose fat, not muscle mass.

“Strength training will help you increase your lean muscle and lose body fat. Also, increasing your intensity of exercise will help with weight loss.”

Although I had heard these recommendations before, looking at the numbers helped me realize that it was time to take action. Empowered with this data, I am hopeful I will stay inspired past mid-February. Later this winter, I will report on my progress.

The cost of the body composition scan is $78 and may be covered by insurance. For more information on the procedure, call YVMC’s Diagnostic Imaging Department at 970-871-2399.

Rosie Kern is a communications specialist at Yampa Valley Medical Center. She can be reached at rosie.kern@yvmc.org.


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