How do I use the Week View on the website?

The idea is to ensure that you get a green tick for the overall week total in your Week View (shown at the bottom in the grey band), as this will ensure that you have created the necessary calorie energy deficit to lose weight.

The beauty of the food diary approach is that it focuses on the overall week. So if one day you do exceed your calorie targets, by making an adjustment later in the week to compensate (either by eating a few less calories or increasing your activity level), you can still stay on track and lose weight. This is what the Week View is for – to help you manage the daily variations.

To explain each column:

1st column

This is the day of the week. You can click on this to be taken into that day's food diary if you wanted to look back and see what you ate.

2nd column

This is your daily food target, as taken from your Food Diary.

3rd column

This shows how you did against your food target – if you went over, the number of calories will show in red with a cross. If you are under, it shows how many calories you are under by in green with a tick. The idea is to hit zero – or a very small green number. This means you kept to your food target.

4th column

You have been set a daily exercise target of extra calories to burn because controlling your food intake is only one side of the weight loss equation – you also need to burn more calories by being more active. This column shows any exercise/extra activity you have entered into your Exercise Diary. So for example on Tuesday, you entered two activities which when added together burned 298 calories. Your Week View shows this as a green positive number and a green with a tick, to show how many calories you've exceeded your target by. This is good because it means that you are increasing your activity level and recording it in your Exercise Diary.

5th column

This takes the calorie figure in the 3rd column and offsets it against the exercise you've done – so for example if you'd eaten 200 calories more than you should, but had done 300 calories in exercise, then the figure here would show as -100 cals in green with a tick meaning that the exercise you did effectively wiped out your food over-indulgence. A green positive figure and tick means that the calorie deficit is good and in your favour for weight loss.

6th column

This shows the % of your 5-a-day target achieved. You are aiming for 100% or higher.

Just one important point to note! It is rare for weight loss to happen in a smooth downwards curve – it is often a series of stops and starts! So don't expect to lose exactly the same amount every week as it may be that one week you lose 3lbs and the next 1lbs – it is down to your individual body. The main thing is that if you consistently get a green tick on your Week View, then your overall weight loss trend will be downwards, even if the odd week on the scales has a blip!