
Denise Folcik had four kids by the time she was 26 years old. One day, she decided it was time to get her pre-baby body back. Her friend has told her that her sister threw up food every now and then to help keep her waistline in check. "It sparked this idea of, 'Oh, I can eat what I want and still lose weight,'" the Waukesha, Wisconsin marketing executive says. Soon after, she was bulimic — purging whenever stress became too much. When she was 43 years old, Focik began growing apart from her youngest daughter, who was 16, which threw her into a depression. She lost 30 pounds in just five weeks, consuming diet sodas and Crystal Light ice cubes along with veggie burgers occasionally. "People were complimenting me on my weight loss, and I was on such a ride," she remembers. "I had so much energy and determination. I felt like I was the strongest woman in the world."
But then she blacked out while she was driving with her daughter in the car and found herself lying on a gurney in the ER. It was then that she was forced to admit the truth: she had an eating disorder and desperately needed help.