What does stress do to your weight? I am an A Explorer and I lose weight under prolonged stress. My appetite essentially disappears.

It depends on what the stressor is; but generally, I gain weight when I'm (unconsciously) unhappy, and lose it when I feel good. If the situation is really stressful, I lose my appetite altogether, and I lose weight, but as soon as that stress goes away, the weight comes back.

I lose weight when I'm stressed out. Mostly because when I'm very stressed I'm not hungry and feel sick, so I typically eat very little.

I exercise more when I am stressed.  

If I am very stressed I feel physically sick and lose weight as I don't feel like eating.

It's not so much that I gain weight, but that weight loss stops when I'm stressed. I easily maintained my weight (45 lbs overweight) for over a decade, whether stressed or not. Since losing some of that weight in the past few years, I've noticed that stress slows weight loss or that I regain a little that I'd recently lost.

Food calms me down, so I tend to eat more when I don't feel calm. Also, weight loss is hard for me. I need to put a lot of conscious effort into "not overeating," and if I put in less effort (because I'm stressed about something) then I'll overeat again.

I don't even want to tell you how much I eat when I'm stressed.  Let's just say back in june I was 7lbs thinner!

I gain.  Maybe because I do more unaware anxiety eating.  Or because my metabolism is affected (maybe by disrupted sleep).

merely H2O-retention while being under stress... but also menopause related  

it is a vicious circle......note I am speaking for myself here....
avoids or excess carbs trigger unnecessary stress and cravings....
the more compliant I stay, the better I can deal with any type of stress....

we have enough stress in our lives, to willingly add yet more to our bodies in terms of avoids and inflammatory lectin damage.....

The last time I was under serious stress I lost weight.

Quoted from cajun

The last time I was under serious stress I lost weight.

My husband is also Type A.  He lost a lot of weight when going through a stressful time - too much weight.

Lose weight under tremendous stress, but only because I go to starvation mode, no appetite and the body goes into a famine status which will make me put all the weight back in the moment I get eating normally.  Now, the slow, creeping without noticing stress makes me put on weight ... Lately I am identifying that I need to keep active and control my portions to lose weight.  My body does not like routine, so I have to add variety to my activities so my body does not get 'settled' and I have to do it without 'over doing it' so the body does not feel stressed ... it is a balancing act of eating, exercising, relaxing, mood controls ... of course, although all this sounds too complex and much hard work, staying compliant with my true to type lifestyle makes the journey so much easier ... and it gets easier to recover from the downs ... never a dull moment in our As journeys ...  

I lose muscle.

I lose it.  And weight, too!

Quoted from DenverFoodie

I exercise more when I am stressed.  

Good for you!  That's what I should do.  Historically, I've increased my consumption and decreased my exercise... Shocking that I've gained weight, no?

I'll try to follow your lead DF.  My historical response only increases stress more; yours helps to eliminate it!

The great thing for me is that I have far fewer episodes of cravings now that I'm doing GTD so it's much easier to keep the consumption under control.  I have fewer options too, but resolving the demand side makes the supply side a non-issue.  

I also gain weight when under stress because I eat to relieve stress. It's called "comfort eating" in my dictionary . From reading the responses above, it seems to me that Type Os have this tendancy while Type As are the opposite. When my husband--who is an A--gets stressed, he loses apetite immediately. Having said that, even when I "overeat," I try to stick to compliant food so the effects are not too harmful--I hope.

I have no idea what it is to lose my appetite.  I can have terrible stomach distress and still want to eat.  I think I really need to pat myself on the back because when I think about it, if I didn't keep on top of things I easily could be very heavy and destroy my health with poor food choices.  I easily could drink too much and eat everything in sight no matter what mood I'm in.  I used to panic at the idea of it and have learned to relax a little because something in me always keeps me from totally getting out of control or gaining too much weight.  I found the more I stress or focus on eating the worse things are for me.  If I do eat too much under stress I usually feel lousy as a result and snap back to better choices.  My next goal is to not put my body through that and stick to my healthy way.  I know that will happen when I do that with the rest of my life.  When I finally accept my individuality in EVERYTHING I will no longer turn to food.  I believe I'm the closest I've ever been to that in my life.  I'm starting to trust me.

Cristina and Lori...Hi! I have missed you two!
Cristina, I know you have family visiting and Lori, I am so glad to see your post about trusting yourself! Good for you, kiddo! You are terrific.....never forget that!
Cristina, I agree about we "A's" and our "always something going on" journey's!