What if the key to a longer life isn’t just about avoiding death, but about living better? Not just adding years to your life, but life to your years?
This is the revolutionary thinking that Dr Peter Attia champions in his bestselling book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. It’s a refreshingly honest, data-driven, and deeply human take on how we can radically improve our healthspan—the number of years we spend living healthily, rather than simply focusing on lifespan.
But Attia’s approach isn’t about magic pills, gene-hacking or techno-utopian fantasies. It’s about personalised, proactive healthcare, driven by data, insight, and the cold, hard truth that modern medicine often waits until it’s too late.
At BodyScan, we think this approach is bang on. In fact, it’s at the very heart of what we do.
Let’s explore what Outlive teaches us, how it relates to your own longevity journey, and why tools like DEXA scans and our BodyCompPro reports could be the most underrated assets in your future-proofing toolkit.
Who Is Dr Peter Attia, and Why Should You Care?
Dr Peter Attia is no ordinary physician. A Stanford- and Johns Hopkins-trained surgeon, Attia made his name not in the operating theatre, but in the world of performance medicine. His focus? Helping people not just survive, but thrive, for as long as possible.
He’s also the founder of Early Medical, a practice that focuses on the applied science of longevity. It’s like Formula 1 for the human body—meticulously measuring, tweaking, and refining every variable to create a system that performs optimally over time.
And that’s what Outlive is really about. It’s not a wellness gimmick or biohacking clickbait. It’s a manual for taking control of your health trajectory, starting now.
The Four Horsemen of Slow Death
A cornerstone of Outlive is Attia’s analysis of what he calls “The Four Horsemen” of chronic disease:
Heart Disease
Cancer
Neurodegenerative Disease (e.g. Alzheimer’s)
Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Dysfunction
These conditions are the primary causes of death in developed countries, not infectious diseases or accidents. But here’s the kicker: they don’t strike like lightning. They creep up slowly, often for decades, before showing symptoms.
That means there’s time. Time to intervene. Time to steer your personal health trajectory away from the default outcome.
But to do that, you need data. You need feedback. You need a plan. That’s where Attia’s philosophy intersects beautifully with what BodyScan offers.
Longevity is a Strategy, Not a Guess
Attia’s book is full of gold, but one of his most compelling messages is this: you don’t have to guess your way to good health. You can measure your way there.
He argues for a paradigm shift in healthcare—from a reactive model (fixing problems when they arise) to a proactive one (identifying risks early and mitigating them intelligently).
This is exactly the ethos behind a DEXA scan.
At BodyScan, we use DEXA (Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry) technology to deliver the most accurate body composition data available. Not vague metrics like BMI or “ideal weight”—but hard numbers on fat, lean tissue, visceral fat, bone density, and more.
And from this goldmine of data, our BodyCompPro report builds a detailed picture of your health. Not just what you weigh, but what you're made of. Where your risks lie. Where is your progress hiding? And what to do next.
It’s longevity in practice.
DEXA BodyCompPro Sample Report
Outlive Isn’t About Living Forever. It’s About Living Fully
Attia is quick to clarify: this isn’t about chasing immortality. It’s about maximising quality of life, for as long as possible. Think of it as training for the “Centenarian Olympics.”
That’s the term he uses to imagine what you’d want to be able to do at age 100—carry shopping bags, climb stairs, lift your grandchild. He encourages readers to reverse-engineer their training and health habits from that imagined future.
So ask yourself—what kind of 85-year-old do you want to be? And are you on track?
This is where knowing your internal metrics is far more useful than simply stepping on the scales.
Take visceral fat, for example. This hidden fat around your organs is linked to insulin resistance, inflammation, and an increased risk of all Four Horsemen diseases. Yet you won’t see it in the mirror or even on a tape measure.
But a DEXA scan sees it. Tracks it. Targets it.
That’s power. That’s personal medicine.
The Missing Metric in Most Longevity Plans
If you’re already on a fitness journey—or perhaps using a GLP-1 weight-loss injection like Mounjaro or Wegovy—you may be seeing the number on the scale drop. Fantastic. But what exactly are you losing?
Is it fat? Muscle? Bone density?
Here’s where BodyCompPro fills a critical gap. Our report tells you not just your fat mass, but your lean mass in arms, legs, and trunk; your android-to-gynoid ratio (a key indicator of metabolic risk); your visceral fat volume; and more.
This level of detail matters. Dramatically.
Losing muscle (especially with age) is a hidden killer. Known as sarcopenia, it’s a silent slide into frailty, increased fall risk, and hospitalisations. Attia hammers this point repeatedly: muscle mass is a vital sign.
And it’s one you can measure, monitor, and protect—right now—with tools like ours.
Exercise, Nutrition and Emotional Health: The Attia Trifecta
Longevity, says Attia, isn’t just about exercise. Or nutrition. Or stress management. It’s the interplay of all three.
His approach is tailored, adaptive, and deeply personal. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. What works for a 40-year-old athlete won’t work for a 70-year-old recovering from metabolic syndrome.
That’s why measurement is the foundation.
Want to know if your nutrition plan is burning fat or wasting muscle? Get a DEXA scan.
Curious if your new strength training regime is adding lean mass? Get a DEXA scan.
Trying to reduce visceral fat and insulin resistance? Get a DEXA scan.
You see the pattern. The scan isn’t the answer. It’s the starting point for asking better questions.
The Emotional Side of Longevity
One of the most surprising and touching parts of Outlive is Attia’s vulnerability. He admits to past struggles with perfectionism, burnout. He makes the case that emotional health is not a “soft” side of longevity—it’s the bedrock.
No longevity protocol is sustainable if it’s fuelled by self-loathing or fear. Compassion, connection, and purpose are as protective as any supplement.
At BodyScan, we meet this ethos with kindness. We don’t moralise body fat or glorify aesthetics. We’re here to inform, support, and empower. You can’t shame someone into long-term health. But you can encourage them into curiosity and action.
Your Health Is Not a Guessing Game
The tragedy, says Attia, is that most people will never know what their risks were—until it's too late. Most healthcare is designed to treat disease, not to cultivate wellness.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With a DEXA scan and a BodyCompPro report, you gain a window into your metabolic future. You can see, today, the metrics that will shape your health 10, 20, even 40 years from now.
That’s not fear-mongering. That’s power.
A Longevity Toolkit You Can Start Now
Dr Peter Attia’s Outlive is a masterclass in how to think, act, and plan for a longer, richer life.
And the central tenets of his philosophy can be put into action right now:
Measure what matters: Skip the scale. Get a DEXA.Prioritise muscle: Not just for aesthetics, but for function, protection, and independence.
Manage visceral fat: It’s the hidden killer—and it’s trackable.
Be proactive, not reactive: Don’t wait for disease. Intervene early.
Tailor your journey: No more generic plans. Your body, your data, your path.
At BodyScan, we’re not promising to make you live forever. But we are here to help you live smarter, stronger, and longer—with tools that decode what’s really going on inside your body.
Living Better, for Longer: Dr Peter Attia, Outlive, and the BodyScan Blueprint for Longevity
What if the key to a longer life isn’t just about avoiding death—but about living better? Not just adding years to your life, but life to your years?
This is the revolutionary thinking that Dr Peter Attia champions in his bestselling book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. It’s a refreshingly honest, data-driven, and deeply human take on how we can radically improve our healthspan—the number of years we spend living healthily—rather than simply focusing on lifespan.
But Attia’s approach isn’t about magic pills, gene-hacking or techno-utopian fantasies. It’s about personalised, proactive healthcare—driven by data, insight, and the cold, hard truth that modern medicine often waits until it’s too late.
At BodyScan, we think this approach is bang on. In fact, it’s at the very heart of what we do.
Let’s explore what Outlive teaches us, how it relates to your own longevity journey, and why tools like DEXA scans and our BodyCompPro reports could be the most underrated assets in your future-proofing toolkit.
And that’s not just science.
That’s sanity.
That’s you, taking control of your story.