Resizing text, not bounding box

I am trying to make 8" tall numbers, however when I select the number to be resized, the bounding box is actually bigger than the number. So my bounding box ends up being 8" tall by 4.5" wide, but the number itself is only about 7" tall by 3.75" wide. How do I make that bounding box be the same size as the number? I'm attaching a picture to display my question, I'm not sure if I worded it clearly enough.

Thank you in advance for any help you have!