It is always good to have goals! There are many different types of goals, but sometimes we tend to forget that it is better to start with short term goals that lead us to our long term goals. For example, you are not going to just go out and purchase a home. Most people have a short term goal to save X dollars out of each paycheck to go toward the purchase of their home. Sometimes it takes many short term goals to get accomplished before we see the long term to come through to fruition.
Another example is getting married. After you find the person of your dreams and get engaged there are many, many, many things (small goals) to accomplish before the big day (long term goal)!
The same goes with losing weight. The first thing we need to do is correct our way of eating. It will not change over night, but through making more right choices than poor choices, eventually we will be eating healthier. It is important to not beat yourself up for the poor choices, just enjoy it and make a better choice the next time. At this point you should begin to see the number on the scale decreasing! The next thing you want to do is add weights for resistance training, then you will burn more weight because your muscles will be working and toning. Keep in mind when you work with weights the number on the scale will go up, but the number on the scale isn't important. What is important is how your clothes are beginning to fit looser on you. Muscle weighs more than fat, but it's leaner and healthier.
So when you set a long term goal to lose weight make sure you also set multiple short term goals to help you get to the long term. So, if I want to lose 50 pounds as my long term, then I may want to lose 10 pounds a month or even 5 to begin and eventually as long as I keep being consistent in my eating and exercise, the 50 pounds will have melted away.
Make your goals reachable and attainable.