# Up to 20 lbs of poop! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148 "2021-06-12T21:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/41 "2021-06-17T22:58:25Z")
[Snopes on Elvis and John Wayne](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/meat-your-maker-2/) TL;DR: Basically, bullshit ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/42 "2021-06-17T23:01:50Z")
BTW, gross thought, but what is the total volume of the GI tract south of the stomach, and how much would an equivalent amount of water weigh? Without doing the math, my suspicion is that it’s impossible for this much volume to weigh twenty pounds. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/43 "2021-06-18T13:26:59Z")
I guess in theory it could if you were a big guy and it was swollen. Anyway of course people don’t have 20 pounds of crap in them. If you did you’d be dead or dying. I first heard this claim when I was in my mid-teens - my idiot uncle stated it - and I got the sense it wasn’t a new claim even then. That would have been over 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/44 "2021-06-18T17:26:37Z")
Charles Panatti, in his book Extraordinary Endings Of Practically Everything And Everybody, traces the ‘your intestines are full of poison’ woo back to the Middle Ages and the idea of the four humours. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/45 "2021-06-18T19:53:37Z")
> **[Is It Really Possible That This Guy Took a 15-Pound Poop?](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/is-it-really-possible-that-this-guy-took-a-15-pound-poop)** > > It’s recently come to our attention that some men enjoy the scholarly pursuit of weighing themselves before and after taking a big ol’ dump. Particularly... ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/46 "2021-06-22T20:28:41Z")
Ok, the 20 lbs of poop guy is with a company called Umzu. I couldn’t find the address for the video. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/48 "2021-06-22T21:03:12Z")
I’m going to bet @EinsteinsHund’s post just above was not aimed at this thread, but sorta plopped in here by accident. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/49 "2021-06-22T21:06:59Z")
I was wondering when pooping had become such a competitive sport. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/50 "2021-06-22T21:07:49Z")
Yep, wrong thread, sorry. I’ll delete it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/51 "2021-06-22T21:09:31Z")
Darn! I wish you hadn’t deleted that. I thought it added a piquant note of whimsy to an otherwise too-serious thread. Serious threads about excess poop need _something_ to lighten them! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/52 "2021-06-22T21:23:06Z")
> [@salinqmind1](#): > > I remember decades ago this idea was going around and a relative breathlessly telling us that the colon could hold on to ‘old food’ for weeks, or months! On a related note, years ago I was shamelessly eavesdropping a conversation on a commuter train. One woman said that she heard that the human body couldn’t digest black pepper. She immediately stopped using black pepper because it made her sick to think about all the black pepper that just stayed in her stomach year after year. None of the other three people in her group mentioned that she’d pooped it out long ago. Now I’m wondering if this is a common belief. Maybe there’s a fortune to be made selling Peppr-B-Gone for the low, low price of $19.99 plus S&H. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/53 "2021-06-22T21:27:22Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Darn! I wish you hadn’t deleted that. Can you tell us what it was about so it can be saved for posterior? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/54 "2021-06-22T21:28:27Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I was wondering when pooping had become such a competitive sport. - It’s the only sport where the crappiest players get chosen _first._ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/55 "2021-06-22T21:31:59Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Can you tell us what it was about so it can be saved for posterior? It was commentary on a recent Soccer / Futbol / Football match involving teams representing England and Scotland. Apparently England could not find it’s arse using both hands even with £20’s chanced. Or in American: they played shittily. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/56 "2021-06-22T21:42:57Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Can you tell us what it was about so it can be saved for posterior? To avoid any confusion, it was this post I reposted to the Euro 2021 thread in the meantime, minus the ETA: > [@Euro 2020 (in 2021)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-2020-in-2021/943756/127): > > England very minimalist, 7 points with a total score of 2-0 goals. The second half today was as bad as the whole match against Scotland. England had very good first 20 minutes, but the rest was rather disappointing. ETA: Wow, what a wonderful goal by Modric! Just saw it now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148.md?page=2)