Weight loss can be tricky. People can do all the right things, and lose weight, but it may not be the right kind. They may be dropping their lean muscle mass while retaining fat. Of course, this problem can be fought through careful observation. But most body fat tests are invasive at best, and wildly inconsistent at worst.
One office in Bellevue can get people the exact results they need.
Vitela Health is one of the first commercial clinics to offer use of the BodPod, a chamber that isolates and measures body fat percentage, determining healthy ranges for men and women of all ages and ethnicities. Husband and wife Brent and Jan Stahl, who run testing with the machine out of their Bellevue office, say the BodPod is the most accurate measure of body fat, and it is used in major hospitals and even in testing competitors for the hit NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
“We can tell people not just that they lost weight, or if they also lost fat,” Jan Stahl said.
Stahl said they run into patients all the time who are lied to by the scales. In some cases, patients’ weight may not drop, but they could be burning fat and adding muscle. In other cases, they may be losing weight, but not burning enough fat. This test can give patients the truth, they said.
Tests cost $75, but they aren’t covered by most insurance plans. The clinic also offers a weight loss plan that replaces a patient’s diet, at approximately $300 per month, which is similar to the Food and Drug Administration’s estimated household spending on food per month.
Brent Stahl said patients came in with as much as 25 to 30 percent extra fat on them. At that point, the first step is to get them at a healthy consumption state. They find the patient’s resting heart rate and use it to determine a caloric intake that will allow them to burn fat. They don’t want to get patients going with exercise too soon because joint damage could be incurred from carrying the extra weight.
This husband and wife team has seen the importance of weight loss first hand. Between them, they lost 95 pounds. They hit an all time low, when their 4-year-old son asked Brent when his baby was due, in front of Jan Stahl while she was pregnant. They began health coaching, and soon opened their own office. Their training focuses on positive encouragement. They help patients to drop weight, but even more so, they work to ensure the patients keep it off.
“We do not want our clients to yo yo,” said Jan Stahl. “We don’t them to work so hard and then gain any of it back.”
See it for yourself
Make an appointment at the office, located at 40 Lake Bellevue Drive by calling 855-484-8352 or email vitelahealth@gmail.com
