They’ve definitely got the wow factor: 3D body scanners can scan your body in 3D, spit out an avatar as like you as if it was cloned, and deliver almost every fact and figure about the physical shape and composition of your body you might possibly want to know. Body mass? Check. BMI? Check. Thigh width? Check. Belly flub? Check.

 

The price tag on 3D Body Scanners has been dropping, and now there are decent models available at a price point one could afford to buy for the home. The question—is it worth it?

 

Proponents argue it is a no-brainer. Knowledge is power, and with all that information at your fingertips, how could this high-tech selfie camera not give you the power to change? No more agonizing over 365 days worth of half-naked after-workout pictures, wondering if there are really differences, if there are any improvements, and if you really have been going anywhere but backwards. The 3D body scanner takes out all the guesswork from body fat calculations, and it can tell you smoothly and easily—no effort required on your part—whether all your hard work is really paying off, or whether it is the ice-cream in the freezer that plays chief actor in your life.

 

Sound too good to be true? Maybe it is. Is knowledge power—always? Can having a complete, full, down to every nitty gritty knowledge of every facet of your body shape and composition turn into a fiend that chases you even further off the path of good health?

 

Will it actually encourage you, or is it likelier to lead to a savage swirl of micromanagement, fear of eating, discouragement, and lack of freedom? With this tool in our living rooms, will be all become compulsive anorexics?

 

Or will it just become another device sitting in the corner, gathering dust? Let’s face it, being told that your waist is 1 mm thicker than yesterday and your thighs 2 mm thinner may not be information you’re equipped to make much of without expert help.

 

Would underuse be better, or worse than overuse? Is there a fair chance we’d find a middle line, and use the 3D body scanner every few days, as a reminder to keep eating healthy and stay on a good exercise regime?

 

Maybe, but face it: if you’re the kind of person who can be motivated to be fit by a biweekly body scan, you’d be motivated by your scale, by your face in the mirror, and by the way your body responds with vivacity and energy when you eat well and exercise.  You aren’t a stranger to yourself. You know your own body from the inside out, and it doesn’t lie to you when it tells you it’s doing wonderfully well… or just surviving.

 

That’s not to say diagnostic tools like the 3D body scanner are useless. They’ve got their place, an important one. But honesty, this machine is far more useful if you try a scan with the help of a professional trainer or nutritionist than going it alone at home. A scan done with someone who can help you pull the big picture out of the mass of details that are printed out in your results, and help you use it to create a roadmap for your future, may just be invaluable.

 

Because the fact is, our bodies aren’t meant to be sculptures, fine-chiseled by a critical eye into some ideal shape that makes a pretty avatar. These vibrant, living things we call our bodies are dynamic, living, and real, and they respond far better to healthy life principles than to any micromanagement.

 

You can spend the 500 dollars on a 3D body scanner. It won’t give you cancer—we think—and you can make sculptures of yourself to give to mom and dad for Christmas, just in case they like to see your shadow. You can set up a schedule and scan yourself weekly, and keep tabs of how you do. But if you take that money and spend it on the gym instead—working with a personal trainer who can give you real motivation and direction into how you should be working out—your body may just thank you.