# How often do you poop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880 "2025-08-08T22:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/41 "2025-08-13T17:22:52Z")
I loved the chart that gave the “looks like this food” items they named. Porridge particularly bothered me. 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/42 "2025-08-13T18:01:31Z")
I’ve heard of people having “shit lists”, but Dr. Bristol clearly took the idea too far. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/43 "2025-08-13T22:16:58Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > You’re supposed to _read_ the books, not _consume_ the books. But isn’t paper made of fiber(s)? 🫠 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/44 "2025-08-13T22:20:56Z")
> Wake up Homer, those Powersauce bars are just junk! They’re made of apple cores and Chinese newspapers! > Hey, Deng Xiaoping died. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/45 "2025-08-13T22:57:05Z")
According to quite a few Dopers, every time I post! My post is my Cite ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/46 "2025-08-13T23:16:46Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > If I had to shit 4 times a day with no reasonable explanation, I’d definitely be talking to my doctor. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but actor James Van Der Beek has said that a change to his bathroom habits was the only sign that he had cancer. > **[Actor reveals subtle symptom he ignored that led to cancer diagnosis](https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2025/08/actor-reveals-subtle-symptom-he-ignored-that-led-to-cancer-diagnosis.html?outputType=amp)** > > James Van Der Beek reveals the first subtle symptom of his colon cancer diagnosis. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/47 "2025-08-14T00:04:46Z")
Once a day. First thing when I get up. I need to carefully watch my weight for gains of more than two pounds a day or 3-5 pounds in a week. I’ve gotten my body trained. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/48 "2025-08-14T13:40:50Z")
A unexplained change is definitely something to take note of, but if you’ve always pooped 4 times a day, or if you’ve done so ever since you significantly increased how much fiber you’re eating, that’s probably just how your bowels work. My dad was a gastroenterologist, and he liked to include the anecdote that Lincoln only pooped once a week (and that was normal for Lincoln) in his introductory lecture. He said that “normal” varied a lot from person to person. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/49 "2025-08-14T16:53:04Z")
I’ll just point out that I just had a colonoscopy two weeks ago, and no cancer was found. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/50 "2025-08-15T00:07:05Z")
My government tells me that "Diarrhoea is when you have 3 or more loose or liquid stools (poos) in one day, or more frequently than normal. " [https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/diarrhoea](https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/diarrhoea) Which is the same as what I learned. Diarrhoea is a medical condition that can be dangerous because of fluid loss. So it bugs me a little bit when people think that one liquid stool == diarrhoea. But I see that Wikipedia doesn’t really agree with me. Evidently a common meaning no longer includes frequency and volume. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/51 "2025-08-15T00:38:27Z")
It bugs me, alittle when folks spell it like that. I kid, I know its the way of your people. 😉 Just like that evil metric system and celsius temperature readings, to some. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/52 "2025-08-15T00:52:53Z")
I’ll pre-apologize @Melbourne , I was just being silly. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/53 "2025-08-15T01:21:22Z")
I’m going to say 2, maybe 3 times a week. Its kindof controlled by me. For 4 years I’ve had to use anti diareah pills often. If I use too many, 2 times. Just the right amount? I’d say 3 days in a row. Trying to dose properly. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/54 "2025-08-15T21:55:49Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > and one where the turd breaks off with its head still up the pipe, is like the difference between night and day. I hear you. Happens to me more and more often. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/55 "2025-08-18T14:55:17Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Bristol Stool Chart A friend’s dad had this on the back of his toilet door. Something to consider once the Reader’s Diest has been piled on the other books, and before wiping commences. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/56 "2025-08-18T15:27:31Z")
I think this thread is definitive proof, moreso than the work of anthropologists, that there is no such thing as “human nature” outside of some very broad values that are too general to have much explanatory or predictive power. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/57 "2025-08-18T18:50:44Z")
I tracked this for about ten days earlier this summer, and every day was between 2-4 poops, nearly always within the first couple hours of being awake. I get an annual physical, and I’ve noticed my TSH levels dropping lower and lower each year – this year, it was 0.753 (normal is 0.45-4.5). The lower your TSH levels are, the faster your metabolism is, and faster metabolisms can correlate with more frequent pooping, so I think that’s why I poop so much. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/58 "2025-08-21T14:28:50Z")
How much i poop is partly psychological. At home, i often poop a few times a day. When i travel somewhere new, i usually don’t poop at all for the first two days I’m away from home, and average less than once a day after that. Now I’m vacationing on an island with outhouses. I’ve been coming here for years, so it’s not stressful like most of my travel. There are two outhouses near the main facilities that are composting outhouses, with little odor, and all the others are traditional outhouses, and stink. I poop once a day, between breakfast and lunch, when I’m near the main dock and the nicer outhouses. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/59 "2025-08-21T17:45:27Z")
Average is probably once a day, but typically 0-2 a day. I don’t ever recall it being more frequent than that. I have the same issues when travelling. I’ll be backed up for at least a day or two. I’m not exactly sure why, as I have no issue pooping in strange places, and I don’t particularly feel stressed when I travel, but that’s how my body reacts. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880/60 "2025-08-22T01:32:21Z")
100,000 years ago, if you were setting out on a multi-day hunting trip, there would be an advantage to not poop on the trip. I find that on a 2-3 day backpacking trip, I basically never get the urge. Maybe the body just recognizes that you’re traveling and tightens things up a bit for the duration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-poop/1021880.md?page=4)