The lifestyle programme I was referred to, honestly reviewed

I had assumed this was a straight line to something worse and my GP was clear that it is not, and that framing changed how I approached the whole year.

Obi, answering your question directly rather than going round the houses.

Something practical: I got a copy of every result going back six years and put them in one place, and the trend told me more than any single figure.

Obi — taking your question as you asked it, because I think the thread has widened it.

My experience is that the small things held and the big changes did not. Three months of enormous effort achieved less than a year of two small habits.

This is the honest version, and the honest version is harder to write.

The bit I got wrong was treating it as an emergency for a fortnight and then forgetting about it for four months. Steady attention beat intense attention.

My nurse asked what I thought I could sustain rather than what I thought I should do, and that question produced a much more honest plan.

What I underestimated was how much better I would feel from the changes independently of any number. That turned out to be the durable motivation.

Somebody in this circle said this is information rather than a verdict, and I have repeated that to two family members since.

The thing I would flag is that other things can move this figure, and mine turned out to have a second contributor that was worth investigating separately.

Nothing here is medical advice. The figure is yours, the context is yours, and the person who can interpret both is the one holding your record.