Fit to Transform Podcast with Coach Nikias
Jul 24, 2026 · 21 min · 9 segments
In the first instalment of the Fat Loss Files mini series, I cover five common fat loss mistakes about setting weight goals, taking diet breaks, and using the scale to track progress. **Links and…
Nikias TomasielloHostAnyway, the first mistake I'm gonna cover today is setting a weight goal without data to back it up.
I believe in the past, I would straight up say that I didn't like people setting a specific weight goal, but now my view is more nuanced.
I don't think there's anything wrong with setting a weight goal if you have a good reason for it.
For example, in your adult life you've already been 150 pounds, and you know that that is where you personally used to feel your best back then.
I don't think there's anything wrong with saying, "Well, I want to get back there." However, in that case, I would also advise having a flexible range from 150 pounds to possibly a couple of extra pounds, because if you've also taken up resistance training, or if you were already training and now you have more years of that under your belt, you'll also have built more muscle.
And we don't want to confine ourselves to having a specific scale weight goal, when really what matters most is the way that you look and the way that you feel in your body.
And if you're going to weigh 155 pounds instead of 150, but you also have a ton more muscle and you feel really good, then why would you worry over those extra five pounds, right? As another example, you might need to get to a certain BMI for a gender-affirming surgery or because you simply do not want to be in the overweight or obese category based on the BMI.
However, if you are aiming for 150 pounds because it sounds good, in quotation marks, then I don't think that's particularly helpful.
For one, if you weighed that much when you were a child or a teenager, and that is what you want to get back to, well, you don't know that it's an appropriate weight for your adult...
Uh, you don't know that it's an appropriate weight for your adult body now.
And if that particular weight is also a long way away, maybe you have 50, 60, 70 pounds that you need to lose, maybe hundreds of pounds, then it can feel really disheartening because it is a long way away, and you don't even know that it is the right weight goal for you.
Anyway, the first mistake I'm gonna cover today is setting a weight goal without data to back it up.
I believe in the past, I would straight up say that I didn't like people setting a specific weight goal, but now my view is more nuanced.
I don't think there's anything wrong with setting a weight goal if you have a good reason for it.
For example, in your adult life you've already been 150 pounds, and you know that that is where you personally used to feel your best back then.
I don't think there's anything wrong with saying, "Well, I want to get back there." However, in that case, I would also advise having a flexible range from 150 pounds to possibly a couple of extra pounds, because if you've also taken up resistance training, or if you were already training and now you have more years of that under your belt, you'll also have built more muscle.
And we don't want to confine ourselves to having a specific scale weight goal, when really what matters most is the way that you look and the way that you feel in your body.
And if you're going to weigh 155 pounds instead of 150, but you also have a ton more muscle and you feel really good, then why would you worry over those extra five pounds, right? As another example, you might need to get to a certain BMI for a gender-affirming surgery or because you simply do not want to be in the overweight or obese category based on the BMI.
However, if you are aiming for 150 pounds because it sounds good, in quotation marks, then I don't think that's particularly helpful.
For one, if you weighed that much when you were a child or a teenager, and that is what you want to get back to, well, you don't know that it's an appropriate weight for your adult...
Uh, you don't know that it's an appropriate weight for your adult body now.
And if that particular weight is also a long way away, maybe you have 50, 60, 70 pounds that you need to lose, maybe hundreds of pounds, then it can feel really disheartening because it is a long way away, and you don't even know that it is the right weight goal for you.
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