As an aesthetic society, we often demonize body fat and stigmatize people with lots of it. There’s often an assumption that people carrying excess weight don’t exercise and must be unhealthy. But that’s not true: you can be fat and fit. In fact, as we age, low levels of fitness can be more harmful to our health than high amounts of fat. For those considering starting exercise, try looking beyond weight loss for motivation. No matter how much you weigh, there are always benefits to exercise. Exercise actually does a pretty poor job of getting us to expend enough excess energy to lose weight. This is partly due to a compensatory effect of our appetite, which increases after we exercise. Exercise changes how much fat we have as a ratio to how much lean muscle tissue we have, but this doesn’t always cause big changes on the scales. Here are five ways exercise improves our health, no matter how much …