For this Arduino project, I am struggling to figure out what might be the solution to this problem and would appreciate your help. I am trying to achieve the following:

1. Within the main function, call the function timeSet() and set an integer value for variable buttonPushCounter. This is achieved through the functions checkDown() and checkUp() and seems to work well.
2. At any chosen point I want to exit the loop of the timeSet() function, use the current integer value under variable buttonPushCounter and use that in another function

However I am really struggling to understand how to best do that since everything I have tried has not worked.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

#include <Wire.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

const int rs = 12, en = 11, d4 = 5, d5 = 4, d6 = 3, d7 = 2;
LiquidCrystal lcd(rs, en, d4, d5, d6, d7);

// constants which won't change:
const int Up_buttonPin = 9;    // the pin that the upbutton is attached to
const int Down_buttonPin = 7;  // the pin that the down is attached to
const int End_buttonPin = 8;   // the pin that the end button is attached to
const int relayPin = 6;

// Variables which will change:
int buttonPushCounter = 0;     // counter for the number of button presses
int up_buttonState = 0;        // current state of the up button
int up_lastButtonState = 0;    // previous state of the up button
int down_buttonState = 0;      // current state of the up button
int down_lastButtonState = 0;  // previous state of the up button
bool bPress = false;
int end_buttonState = 0;  // current state of the end button


void setup()

{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(relayPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Up_buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(Down_buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(End_buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);

  lcd.begin(16, 2);  // initialize the lcd
  // Print a message to the LCD.
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
  lcd.print("Select runtime:");
  lcd.setCursor(2, 1);
  lcd.print(buttonPushCounter);
  lcd.setCursor(4, 1);
  lcd.print("hours");
}

void loop()

{

  timeSet();
}




int timeSet() {
  checkUp();
  checkDown();

  if (bPress) {

    bPress = false;
    lcd.setCursor(2, 1);
    lcd.print("               ");
    lcd.setCursor(2, 1);
    lcd.print(buttonPushCounter);
    lcd.setCursor(4, 1);
    lcd.print("hours");
  }

  return (buttonPushCounter);
}


void checkUp()

{
  up_buttonState = digitalRead(Up_buttonPin);
  // compare the buttonState to its previous state

  if (up_buttonState != up_lastButtonState) {
    // if the state has changed, increment the counter
    if (up_buttonState == LOW) {
      bPress = true;
      // if the current state is HIGH then the button went from off to on:
      buttonPushCounter++;
      Serial.println("on");
      Serial.print("number of button pushes: ");
      Serial.println(buttonPushCounter);
    } else {

      // if the current state is LOW then the button went from on to off:
      Serial.println("off");
    }

    // Delay a little bit to avoid bouncing
    delay(50);
  }

  // save the current state as the last state, for next time through the loop
  up_lastButtonState = up_buttonState;
}

void checkDown()

{
  down_buttonState = digitalRead(Down_buttonPin);
  // compare the buttonState to its previous state
  if (down_buttonState != down_lastButtonState) {
    // if the state has changed, increment the counter
    if (down_buttonState == LOW) {
      bPress = true;
      // if the current state is HIGH then the button went from off to on:
      buttonPushCounter--;
      Serial.println("on");
      Serial.print("number of button pushes: ");
      Serial.println(buttonPushCounter);

    } else {

      // if the current state is LOW then the button went from on to off:
      Serial.println("off");
    }

    // Delay a little bit to avoid bouncing

    delay(50);
  }

  // save the current state as the last state, for next time through the loop
  down_lastButtonState = down_buttonState;
}



void pump() {
  digitalWrite(relayPin, HIGH);  // Turn on the pump
  delay(1000);                   // Run for counter seconds (assuming counter is in seconds)
  digitalWrite(relayPin, LOW);   // Turn off the pump
  delay(5000);                   // Wait for 5 seconds before allowing another pump activation
}

I tried to exit the IF statement with another physical button by looking for state changes in it but that had no impact