Trust me. You burn the calories.
I started off slow too. The trick is to now increase the intensity slowly. IT has taken me over a year to get to this point, so you want to go in the right direction.
You will feel energized in direct proportion to the degree you increase intensity. I was where you are at.
Also treadmill/stairclimber/swimming is much easier on the knees than running on the pavement.
First, whenever someone starts a post with “trust me” I immediately get skeptical of anything they say after that.
Second, I never said I didn’t burn calories.
Third, I don’t need an education in how it works, I understand it already.
Additionally, I don’t run, and find treadmills etc boring, and since you are so well versed in all of this, you will know that people don’t tend to stay with exercises if they find them boring and/or otherwise unpleasant.
And, lastly, do you have something that you can point me to, because I would be really interested in a good study that indicates exercising on an empty stomach increases the amount of calories you burn.