I think you should start exercising right away, no matter what. That will help with the stress. That BP needs to come down quick.

Maybe your heart rate is elevated, too, which would mean more calories burned? I dunno. It sounds similar to when I was on the divorce diet and shrunk down to my pre-puberty size.

I question whether "stress" causes weight gain across the board. In my family we don't get fat under stress. We get smaller. In DH's family it is the opposite, but they are all apple shapes (carry their weight at the waist and above) so that physiological difference could have something to do with it. (It does make them at higher risk for diabetes, so it would make sense that their body reacts differently to other things.)

I wouldn't discount a delayed, or maybe accumulating, reaction to the grief of losing your father. It took my son a year to fully recognize the effects on his psyche of being in Iraq and all that happened at home while he was gone.

I hope whatever the stress is clears up really soon for you.

Karen