‘Biggest Loser’s’ David Jones down nearly 100 pounds

David Jones wasn’t surprised when he was sent home this week on “The Biggest Loser.” He expected it -- and, in a sense, he courted the elimination.

“I kinda knew the plan was, if we ever failed, if we ever lost the weigh in, I would be the guy to go,” he said during a media conference call Tuesday morning. He said that despite an injury that kept him from running, he was still able to keep up his weight loss, a factor that made him a threat to win the grand prize for largest percentage of body weight lost. David said he’d long made peace with this fate. In fact, he said, he told his teammates that “I would be OK with going home.”

That might have made it easier for the blue team to send the 51-year-old packing back to his job as a police officer in Kiefer, Okla. Viewers were treated to a look at David -- dashing in his police uniform -- but he looks even better than that today, he said.

For one, those images of David on the job included hefty police protection. (David said he’s “thinner than that uniform actually portrays.”) But David has lost even more weight. He’s right on the cusp of being able to put 100 pounds of excess weight in the rear view mirror of his patrol car.

There are as many changes on the inside as on the outside.

Viewers learned that David felt he always had to play the role of the stoic officer, taking care of everyone else and ignoring his own needs -- even failing to acknowledge basic emotions. Among his challenges: caring for a profoundly ill daughter.

Well, all that has changed. David says he’s been seeking professional help for navigating his emotions and setting up boundaries. “I found out that there were negative influences in my life that are very close to me but I had never recognized,” he said. He said he made the decision: “I’m not going to accept that in my life anymore.”

He added: “You know, for every five or 10 pounds [lost on the scale], I’ve lost five or 10 pounds of emotional baggage, too.”

Kudos to you, David, for shattering the myth that seeking help is somehow a sign of weakness. Seeking an objective, outside opinion is a sign of strength, particularly given all the stresses and challenges you face -- both on and off the job. In an episode filled with a “leading by example” moment, this tops them all.

Other highlights from his talk with the media:

--He said he now fully embraces an active lifestyle, one that keeps him motivated to “just keep going, just keep doing.... I don’t want to sit and watch TV all day, which is what my lifestyle was six months ago.”

--He said he continues to marvel at how much easier life is without the excess poundage: “I forgot how pain-free it’s supposed to be,” he said, adding that simple movements, such as getting up out of a chair, no longer hurt.

--We asked David whether Bob was being too hard on Gina this week. Absolutely not, he said, adding that there was a method to Bob’s madness, one that made Gina face her fears and grow stronger despite them. “Bob is doing exactly what Bob is supposed to do,” he said. “[Gina] can be such a competitor and so strong, but she has to have that motivation.”

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