Courtesy of Tracie Creasy

Tracie Creasy was vacationing in Wilmington, N.C., when an editor at Health magazine e-mailed her about appearing in the publication. Creasy agreed, and the magazine sent photographers for a beach photo shoot.

Here's a good reason to take your laptop on vacation: You never know when a national magazine might want to contact you about a photo shoot.

That happened to Tracie Creasy. The schoolteacher from Vinton was enjoying a few days of fun and sun in Wilmington, N.C., when an editor at Health magazine e-mailed her about appearing in the publication.

That's what losing 125 pounds will do for you. Creasy had been in touch with the editor for about a year, when she first submitted her story about how improving her diet and increasing exercise had helped her slim down from 293 pounds.

Creasy was on vacation, however, when the editor e-mailed with the news that they wanted to run her story. Good thing she had her laptop. Creasy got the message and told the editor where she was.

Next thing she knew, the editor had dispatched a photographer and stylist to Wilmington to conduct an oceanfront shoot.

"It was surreal," Creasy said.

Fortunately, she packed well, so she provided her own clothes for the shoot.

"They asked if I'd be willing to be shot in a swimsuit," she said. "I laughed. I was, like, 'No.' "

Creasy's story and photos will appear in the October issue of Health magazine, which will hit newsstands on Friday.

Always on 'heftier side'

The story's a good one.

Creasy was featured in The Roanoke Times in 2008 in a story about people who have had success losing weight. She started in 2006 by changing her diet and becoming a workout fiend, working out as many as five days a week at the Lancerlot in Vinton and even becoming an aerobics instructor.

Creasy, 30, who teaches at Bedford Elementary School, said she has always "been on the heftier side." As a student at Staunton River High School, "when other girls were size zero, I was 14 or 15."

She added the "freshman 15" as a student at Radford University.

"I'd wear pajama pants with an elastic waist," she said. "I didn't realize I was gaining weight because I wasn't wearing tight-fitting clothes."

She continued to gain weight after the births of her daughters, Allison, 9, and Myranda, 5.

"I know I was over 300, but I didn't get on the scales," said Creasy, who stands 5-foot-9.

Creasy was unhappy with her weight. She didn't particularly enjoy working out, but she didn't enjoy weighing nearly 300 pounds.

A great incentive

She started with low-impact water workouts and walking. She cut out fast food and responded with a polite "no thank you" whenever her co-workers brought snacks and desserts to school.

Gradually, she enrolled in more intense classes. "I was always the biggest person in the class," she said.

She found support on Internet chat sites dedicated to weight loss. It was online where she learned about Health magazine's invitation for personal stories.

Her story impressed Shaun Chavis, Health's associate food editor. She contacted Creasy and encouraged her to keep losing weight.

"I thought she was a beautiful woman with a really inspiring story," Chavis said. "She was so persistent. She kept sending pictures and I'd go, 'Wow.' The way she lost weight and even became a trainer made me think that her story deserved coverage."

Creasy and Chavis stayed in touch for a year. The possibility of appearing in a magazine even helped Creasy keep the weight off.

"Talk about incentive, right?" Creasy said.

Her weight is down to about 165. She has competed in three 5K runs and maintains a strict workout schedule.

She has seen a copy of the story and is pleased with the way it turned out, especially the beach photos.

She's relieved that she packed some of her prettiest beach outfits, because, as she told the photographer, "a Hawaiian vacation shirt is probably not what you're looking for."