Strive for...Something

So I have this pet peeve with well meaning people who, after they find out I'm on a mission to get healthy, ask me how much weight I want to lose and then balk when I tell them. Well, YOU asked. Sometimes it's followed up with, "I'm sure you can do it." More often than not I get, "Don't you think that's a bit much to lose?" or "I wouldn't set myself up for failure like that." Uh...thanks. Wasn't planning on it. I know they don't realize what they're doing, but I want to smack them. My goal weight is 125lbs. I currently weigh 300lbs. My starting weight was 312. I'm 5'5in tall and I actually have a small frame (no getting away with saying I'm 'big boned' because at 312 I still only wore a size 7 ring and a size 8 shoe) so according to the insurance charts, 125 is my "perfect" weight. That being said, I am NOT hung up on the number. I'm a nurse for goodness sakes. I know all about body composition and fat distribution, and let's not forget that I'm going to have some excess skin when it's all said and done. I say 125 because it gives me a nice, concrete goal to work towards. I will most likely settle at around 135-140 because I like having muscles and when I was a size 10 last, I weighed 175lbs. I'm not going to feel like a failure if the scale never says 125 while I'm on it. There are people who can make goals like, "I just want to feel better" or "I want to be comfortable in my body" and that's enough for them. I have those goals along with "I want to wear a size 4 jeans" and "I want to wear size small Koi scrubs" because I am someone who NEEDS concrete goals. When I ran cross country I had days when the coach would say to us, "Go run until you think you've run far enough and then come back." Those days sucked for me. I was never able to relax and focus on the run because I was constantly worrying if I'd run far enough. Tell me to go run five miles and do four splits, and I'm happy. Tell me to lose enough weight to make me happy and I'll fail. Tell me to shoot for losing 175lbs and if I get close I'll be satisfied. I know it's a little OCD and Type A (which I'm not, really), but it works for me. I never make fun of other peoples goals or assume they will fail because they aren't concrete or they're terribly different from mine, because as long as they work for that individual they're good goals.