The elliptical machine is my favorite.  I actually want to have one in my house.  But of course, they’re expensive machines, and frankly you can easily find them in your gym for an easy fee every month while not having to keep up the maintenance yourself, which is without question extremely helpful in general terms.  They can really help you to work your body in general.  For example, you think about the fact that you are not actually running, so it’s low impact just keeping your feet on them, and you are still moving in that kind of motion. 

But you are also incorporating your arms into the movement for a whole body workout. You are definitely not missing out on anything to say the least.  It can be used with a trainer or by yourself, and oftentimes I actually find myself going longer and harder on it to some degree, because it’s not bearing down on my joints as much.  So that’s really helpful.  My arms get more toned with that as obviously does the rest of my body while burning more fat through the cardio methods.  But it definitely helps you to get better results, and it definitely is a machine to at least consider when you are looking for realistic weight loss results.