Re: Lower back/hip pain while fasting explained....
OK Marcell, I asked the doctor to elaborate on his "abdominal tone-up during fasting" comment and both he and another member responded. Both responses are below. Hope it helps.
This is a post, not from the doctor, but another board member:
"Losing weight means less intra-abdominal fat. The fat I had was causing my belly to bulge forward slightly. The altered strain on the lumbar muscles can cause pain. I had better posture at the end of my fast. But although there was a 6-pack, suddenly I had wrinkled skin on my belly."
This is the doctor's response:
"When you fast your hollow organs (the gut) "tones up", so that the total volume of organs in your belly is reduced. Think of it as a balloon deflating. Thus the circumference of your lower body is reduced. When the belly protrudes (when it is "inflated"), like kaypeeoh explains, the belly bulge forward, thus you have to bend over backwards to stay up. This causes a backward bend in the lower spine. As the weight is lost, the "balloon deflates" and you have to stand up more straight in your lower back to prevent falling backward. The ligaments on the back part of the vertebrae is therefore stretched. This causes pain, until such time as they are "used to" the new length."
Today is day seven for me also fastjim. I'm actually feeling pretty good today. Still having lower back and hip pain though. And the biggest discomfort is that I'm just not sleeping. I knew it was to be expected, but passing the time in pleasant sleep would be really nice - fasting can be really boring.