A treadmill may be able to tell guys more about their health than their bathroom scale.

If you exercise often but can’t seem to lose the weight you’d like, a new study may cheer you up a bit.

Researchers looked at the cardio-respiratory fitness of more than 14,000 men. They had them hop on a treadmill to measure their fitness, then repeated the test about six years later.

The men who maintained their fitness levels or became more fit were less likely to die of heart disease in the following years. And they were less likely to die in general! Even if they didn’t lose extra weight, they were still protected. However, the men who became less fit had a higher risk of dying, even if their weight went down.

These findings remind us that physical activity is good for our health for more reasons than just weight loss. And getting regular exercise is important even if you’re not overweight! Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. How can you find a moderate level? If completely resting is a zero, and working out as hard as you can is a 10, then moderate is a 5 or 6.

(Source: blog.madsweat.com)