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Obese with back problems, high blood pressure and pre-diabetes, Jerry Taylor, a medical emergency doctor at Allegheny Valley Hospital, used weight-loss techniques, exercise and body-sculpting equipment to lose 45 pounds in three months.

He and his wife, Vicki, a retired Highlands Area School District teacher and a licensed esthetician, have opened New You Skin and Body Spa in Buffalo Township in Yellow Jacket Square along South Pike Road.

“I’m my own best example,” Taylor said. “I serve as a model of what can be accomplished. I’ve experienced the difficulties and journey myself. I can empathize with patients.”

At Allegheny Valley Hospital, he has served as medical director of emergency medicine, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine, president of the medical staff and as a member of the hospital’s board of directors. He currently works as a hospitalist — a doctor who takes care of in-patients.

He cultivated his passion for health and wellness for a decade and got certified in medical weight loss and aesthetics.

“It’s a little less stressful than the emergency department,” he said. “Instead of treating disease after the fact, I wanted the chance to impact people’s lives before they got sick.”

The Taylors’ spa is different because it is staffed by a physician on-site. Taylor and his wife also offer a range of facial services, including injectables, chemical peels and other facial procedures, as well as skin care.

Taylor conducts a medical evaluation on customers to help determine what weight-loss program will work for them. An estimated 70% of the U.S. population is obese or overweight. People who lose weight often can stop or reverse health problems stemming from obesity, including diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer and kidney disease.

While weight-loss gimmicks and fads come and go, Taylor takes a medical approach, working with the latest and proven weight-loss techniques such as using diabetes drugs.

“It’s going to be a big game changer in the future when they are more readily available,” he said.

Sylvia Maxwell, 52, of Buffalo Township, a mother of twins, lost 18 pounds in four weeks using a diabetes medication, healthy lifestyle changes and a reduced-calorie diet of 1,200 calories.

She put on the weight during the pandemic while she was home with her children — when “the refrigerator became my friend.”

“I feel like I’m changing my lifestyle,” Maxwell said.

She is not eating bread and sweets and doesn’t crave them.

“I’ve been reset,” she said.

Taylor offers other weight-loss methods and medications as well. But that is only a part of his program, which focuses on maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle to make the weight loss stick.

For example, Taylor uses some hormone drugs for one of his 12-week weight-loss programs for $1,000.

“It’s a rapid and safe weight-loss program where patients can lose a half-pound to a pound a day,” he said.

The later six weeks are devoted to learning how to maintain a healthy weight.

Taylor’s body sculpting uses EMSculpt, which kills fat cells while building muscles. Each 30-minute session is equivalent to 20,000 sit-ups or crunches and costs $850. Patients need four sessions to receive the full benefit of losing 30% of fat cells and realizing a 25% increase in muscle.

Although the spa’s services aren’t covered by medical insurance, payment plans are available.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary by email at mthomas@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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