[djmcmath]

I'm with Charles. If you're gaining weight, you know you're not burning enough calories. If you're losing weight, you know you're working out enough and eating the right amount. If you're at the end of your day saying "Do I need to walk another 500 yards to make my calorie balance for the day?" you're probably doing it wrong. Save $100 and spend another 10 minutes at the gym every day. If you're really taking credit for the stairs that you climb at work to reduce your gym workout, you're probably missing the point.

OTOH, if this is the "gimmick" that you need to persuade you to run a little farther, do another few minutes on the stair master, track your progress over a period of months, in terms of how far you're riding/running/swimming, and that extra bit of motivation is going to convince you to work out a little more, then it may be a net benefit.

Most of the people that I know who have bought them haven't lost weight. They're still out-of-shape people, they're just out-of-shape people who know how many steps they walked that day.