Tasha Wall kept it a secret from her newlywed husband until the magazine hit the newsstands.
The 27-year-old personal trainer waited anxiously as he thumbed through the pages of UMM, Canada's urban male magazine, knowing that on page 107 was a photo of her posing, wearing nothing but a T-shirt, bra, and panties.
"He had to go through it and it took forever because he kept putting it down and then going away and doing something," said Walll. "Finally, I said, 'I heard there's someone from Prince George in there, just check.' He finally saw it, after about an hour and was really surprised."
It also came as a bit of a shock to her father.
"My dad was like, 'I don't want anyone to see this.' My mom didn't think it was that big of a deal, but she was happy I was happy about it."
Wall submitted her photo for UMM's girls next door section and it was published in the Summer 2012 issue, which went on sale three weeks ago. Published quarterly, UMM has a national circulation of about 120,000.
"The main reason why I did it was for my business," said Wall, who is married to Richard Martin but uses her maiden name for her business -- Tasha Wall Certified Personal Trainer. "Even though it's not a fitness magazine, it does provide exposure. Anything that gets you out there a little bit helps. It's something I secretly hoped to do for a long time, but it seemed unattainable."
Wall has been a personal trainer for about three years, but her devotion to fitness goes back seven years, when she was living in Calgary. She worked in a fast food restaurant while she was going through high school at PGSS. Between that and her love of the party life resulted in her gaining 30 pounds. But once she caught the fitness bug, changes in her diet and a devotion to cardio exercises and weightroom workouts allowed her to lose that weight.
"I achieved my weight loss goal about seven years ago and I've maintained the whole time," she said. "I moved out of the house and decided to hire a fitness trainer who taught me how eat properly and how to exercise and I lost all my weight. I did my own thing for a couple years and decided I want to help other people do it.
"When I was overweight I had low self-esteem and confidence and I didn't love myself or my body. I just want people to be healthy and happy and if they are happy and healthy, in turn the weight loss comes."
She doesn't believe in diet pills or radical diets. There's no substitute for staying active and making the right food choices. She admits eating types of food that are bad for her every day, but says there's no harm in doing that as long you don't overindulge and get enough exercise.
"Fitness is part of my daily life, it's something you have to do, like brushing your teeth," she said. "You can't look for a quick fix or magic remedy, you just have to eat healthy and exercise. It's not like going on a diet. Whatever made you lose the weight, you have to do that the rest of your life."
Wall runs frequently and engages in full-body workouts with high-intensity interval training three times a week. She's hoping her published photo in UMM will lead to more modelling gigs.
"It's something I enjoy doing," she said. "I'm not a model but I book photo shoots sometimes to motivate myself. It's a reason to work hard, a reason to not eat all the chocolate I want to eat."
Wall can be reached at www.facebook.com/tashawall.ptrainer.
