Lose the Jelly in Your Belly

Need another reason to stick with your New Year's resolutions? A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that moderate exercise can be crucial for postmenopausal women who want to lower their risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and some cancers. Not only does exercise promote good health overall but it also reduces intra-abdominal fat deposits — fat stored around the organs deep within the abdomen — that are a hidden risk factor for many chronic illnesses.

The study's authors recruited 173 sedentary, overweight women ages 50 to 75 and put half of them on a five-day-a-week exercise plan, which included such activities as walking, biking and aerobics for about 45 minutes a day. At the end of a year, the women had lost weight — a modest 3 lbs. on average — but, more important, C.T. scans showed they had lost up to 6.9% of the fat in their middles. Nonexercisers, by comparison, neither lost weight nor reduced intra-abdominal fat.

Less belly fat means lower levels of insulin and bad cholesterol. So, even if your exercise routine isn't registering big on the scale, rest assured that it's still doing you a lot of good.