No better way to start 2015. Sonya Jones, a contestant on season 16 of The Biggest Loser, has dropped more than 100 pounds. In an emotional exclusive clip and photo shoot with Us Weekly, the former softball semi-pro shows off her new, slimmed-down figure.

“Since Junior High, I’ve gone to bed with the same thought every night: Maybe tomorrow will be the day that your weight-loss challenge actually starts,” Jones, a PE teacher, tells the camera in the clip. “Physically I feel like a complete disaster…I’m desperate to make a change.”

After 15 weeks of intense training and dieting, Jones finally made that change. “Sonya you’re spectacular,” Tim Gunn exclaims after Jones makes her reveal. Adds trainer Jennifer Widerstrom, between tears: “I’m speechless…truly this is the butterfly experience for Sonya.” 

“I’ve worked for 15 weeks to get to makeover week and…I’ve dropped 105 pounds and I’m proud of that,” Jones, who started the show weighing 283 pounds, says during her sit-down. “Looking at this picture of me at 283 pounds, I was so embarrassed of that picture, I felt like, ‘Did you really look like that?’ I realized that [old picture] will never define me again.” 

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Watch the clip above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly to see Jones’ new figure, along with other Biggest Loser contestants. Catch The Biggest Loser on NBC on Thursdays at 8 p.m.

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