When you use the NHS Healthy Weight Calculator mentioned on the Your kcal Data page, you will be offered guideline kcal figures for weight-loss purposes, assuming you are overweight. The bookend figures as I call them: 1671 kcal to 2148 kcal are an illustration. The figure you adopt within that range is your daily intake and that figure can be changed on a daily basis if you wish, between the two book-end figures.

If you adopt the lower kcal intake figure you will lose weight more quickly than if you use the higher figure. Although the obvious choice may seem to be the lower figure, in practice, it may not be sustainable. We are all different. You can always revise your initial choice at any time, if experience suggests that would be more appropriate.

Once immersed in this principle you will know for certain that it is actually working and that you understand how it is working. You will also realise that success is inevitable and it does not matter if it takes a few weeks longer.

A number of factors will affect your choice of target-weight that no current NHS application can give advice on. I am not qualified to comment either. No one is unless they are appropriately medically qualified and have actually physically interviewed you.

At some point in time you will decide where to set your target-weight, though that decision, as in my own case, may evolve naturally over a long period of time. What I will say is that my average morning weight has now been consistently sustained, within guideline figures, for over five years, at the time of writing.

Do not get hung up on target-weight. As long as you are cruising safely on the road towards your target-weight, all will be well. Plenty of time to make that decision.