I've dropped all muscle, increased my spare tire to the size of a smart car, and my hair is falling out. I think I gained weight but in a "cry for help" kind of way.
DID I WIN?!
Thanks Busto and good job! You just motivated me.
It's actually not surprising to hear this.
Your body tends to produce a fair amount of cortisol when you're under stress, cortisol will effectively stop the body from burning stored body fat for energy.
When some people lose weight in these situations it's because they're so stressed that they can't eat, they have no hunger - they'll lose some bodyfat but it's mostly lean muscle tissue and water that people lose in these types of stress diets which makes them dangerous. The flipside is some people get so stressed that they eat too much, cortisol stops bodyfat from being burned and you're consuming too many calories, for lack of a better term, it's the "perfect storm", a great way to pack on the pounds.
Hang in there bro, get thee to a gym, start using that nervous energy and turn this thing around, get yourself an mp3 player, walk a few miles everyday (if you're not a runner, look into a 10000 step program where you get yourself a pedometer or something similar for tracking number of steps you take in a day), start pumping some weights, start taking vitamin C and D as well as a multivitamin, consume a protein shake for breakfast and lunch, reduce your carb intake and focus on lean protein and clean vegetables/fruits, you'll get back into shape quickly and you'll be healthy too, you won't crack this DB nut if you're out of shape.
