Screenings for LOST @ASHA

After we completed our Biggest Loser program last year, we took note of what we would do differently next time. One item on the list was to simplify the assessments. During our Biggest Loser program, we did a couple of fasting blood draws to measure cholesterol and blood glucose and physical fitness assessments. During this program we will keep it simple and measure the following:

• weight,
• blood pressure,
• waist to hip ratio and circumference, 
• BMI,
• body fat breaking out essential body fat, reserve body fat and excess body fat.

We'll use the tool we developed last year to calculate the various body fat measures. Cyndi Fales from Lifework Strategies and our intern last summer, Diana Levin, described the tool in this post.
Today, we are shopping for a new scale. That was another lesson learned the hard way from our last program. We want a simple digital model with a maximum weight capacity of 400 pounds.

This will also keep our costs down. The lab work alone last time cost us approximately $7,000 at $35 per blood draw and it was difficult to reschedule for people that missed the planned assessments.