Elliptical machines are good cardio and strength machines that can provide a good workout to burn calories. How many calories you burn depends on a number of factors, such as age, height, current weight, metabolism etc. Most elliptical machines come with an electronic display that shows various information such as the level, whether it is up hill or downhill, the bpm you are maintaining, time and distance.
On a 30 min session while maintaining a bpm of 60-65 you would most likely burn 200 calories. This is beginner level and you can burn a lot more if you are more experienced on the machine. For example at 150+bpm over that same period I double the amount burned so around 400 calories, I try to maintain a level 3-6 and keep the pace at over 150bpm for the entire time, I do sweat a lot.
If you went towards an hour on it, you should be hitting 700 calories or more. Don’t forget to drink ice cold water while doing this, this also helps burn calories, and the main reason your body will feel tired from cardio is that it is overheating internally, so pour cold water down your neck! At higher levels, it is more of a strength thing than a cardio workout as your arms and legs will start aching, if you are aiming for a mix then some days up the level to 8+ and go less in terms of time. The problem then is maintaining a higher bpm rate.
Work on starting at lower levels beginners aim to do level 1-2 for 15-30 mins. Intermediate and advanced anywhere from 30 mins to one hour at higher bpm levels.
