“Not a pretty picture, is it?” Teresa Scott Syed says, showing a photo of herself taken four years ago at age 62. “I look like I’ve been ridden hard and put away wet. And believe me, that’s exactly how I felt!” Two late-life children, a stressful job as a financial consultant, and a rough divorce had pushed her blood pressure through the roof, and her weight up to 214 pounds. “I wanted to start all over again, so I could help others who felt as overwhelmed as I did,” she recalls. “But first, I had to put my own life back together again.”
Syed lost 70 pounds, 10 dress sizes, 14 percent of her body fat and a total of 98 inches in just one year. She no longer needs blood pressure medication. Today, as president and owner of OneLife Weight Loss & Wellness Solutions, she and a team of experts help men and women lose weight and keep it off. “We provide the tools, support and encouragement you need to get control of your life, physically, mentally and emotionally,” she says. “We help you become your best person, the butterfly you were meant to be.”
The OneLife method requires a serious commitment, Syed notes. The program calls for two meals a day, a total of 500 calories, with each meal consisting of a protein, a vegetable, a starch and a fruit. The ‘secret weapon’ is HCG: “HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is a natural hormone produced in a woman’s body when she’s pregnant,” Syed explains. “Taken in small amounts in conjunction with the diet, it suppresses appetite and triggers the body to burn up to 4,000 calories a day of stored fat, resulting in rapid weight loss of up to 30 pounds or more in 40 days.” HCG is available in drops or prescription tablets and injections, and OneLife offers all three options. Clients follow the low-calorie phase of the program for up to 40 days, followed by a 42-day maintenance period, until they drop the desired amount of weight.
But weight loss is just the first step. “To help you achieve permanent change and keep the weight off, OneLife provides a comprehensive approach to wellness, incorporating stress management, movement, proper eating, and understanding your relationship with food,” Syed says. The OneLife team includes a physician, as well as access to a nurse practitioner who specializes in hormone replacement therapy, a licensed psychotherapist, a nutritionist, a certified personal trainer and a meditation consultant, if desired. “We work together to help you make healthier decisions.”
Syed enjoys helping clients reach their goals. “They not only look better, they feel healthy, joyful and self-confident,” she says. She can relate. “With every pound I lost, I felt like I was coming out of a cocoon. I’m 66, and I’m in better health now than I was in my 30s and 40s. I got my body back—and my life. I want to share that joy with others.”
Pictured: Medical adviser Dr. Andrea Itzkowitz, licensed psychotherapist Jennifer Lustman, and president/owner Teresa Scott Syed; Not pictured: wellness consultant Julie Bauer
Photo: Bill Barrett
[OneLife Weight Loss & Wellness Solutions is located at 12291 Olive Blvd. in Creve Coeur. For more information, call 314.434.8446 or visit onelifestlouis.com.]