What about stress causes weight loss?

[OakLeaf]

I'm sure other people who know more will chime in, but the way I understand it is that when everything else is controlled, stress actually causes weight gain, because of the way stress hormones affect blood sugar.

But stress also has a strong effect on your appetite, which can go either way depending on psychological factors. Me, I'm a stress eater, I'll stuff my face to literally try to keep emotions inside. But you could have lost your appetite just below the level where you're aware of it.

It's probably the apples. No really, remember a couple of years ago the Apple Council sponsored some research that claimed to show people lost weight when they ate more apples. Apples are so high in soluble fiber that they give people a feeling of fullness way beyond their actual caloric content, so you tend to eat less.

Also, unfortunately, when I'm inactive, particularly if I'm slacking off strength training, I'll initially start to lose weight from muscle loss, for at least two or three months before the increased fat starts to show up on the scales.

Stress and inactivity alone are enough to account for the BP, I think. They would be for me, but my BP tends to be pretty reactive.