Actually they don't burn calories.
They increase your metabolism, which is always good for weight loss.
If you do 30 mins of cardio 3-5 days a week and lift weights ever other day, you should be losing weight at a reasonable pace.
As for diets, you don't really need to go on one, but they speed up the weight loss process.
It doesn't have to be a big change in your diet,
For example, start eating egg whites only. This will decrease your cholesterol level by a fair amount and instead of eating fried egss eat hard boiled eggs.
