As with most gym equipment, if you’re not wearing a heart rate monitor, the exact calorie count may be a little off, so don’t read too much into them. However, you can burn as many calories on an elliptical as you do on a treadmill (and maybe even more), you just have to work harder to compensate for the fact that there’s no energy exertion from lifting your feet, Pire explains. As with most things, it all comes down to how hard you’re actually working.
