Question TextMesh Pro and layout groups

hey yall.

So im pretty new to UI design, and ive run into a bit of a problem i cant seem to figure out. Ive seen many people saying i should use TMP instead of default text, so im designing my UI using TMP. Im using a vertical layout group in the attached picture (text on top is TMP and bottom is default). the problem is i want my text to align with the image in the middle of the two. When the tmp text gets longer it seems to move away from the left alignment causing the UI to look kinda ugly. is there anyway to get it to truly stay to the left as the default text does?

 

from what im seeing, each letter or number you add, slightly moves it over to the right. this is what i want to avoid. and just to clarify, all the settings are default on the TMP element, and the alignment is set to left. also if i add a new TMP not under the layout group it does not have this problem. the layout group setup is below