How Often Should A Healthy Person Poop Per Day? Doctors Weigh In

There's a lot of personal information you share with friends—relationship issues, your biggest fears, and even deeply embarrassing moments. Still, there's one query that likely doesn't come up in common chats: how often do you poop, exactly?

While it's not exactly fodder for brunch conversation, understanding just how often it's "normal" to poop per day is important. After all, regularly pooping allows you to clear out waste, bacteria, and indigestible plant material from your system, keeping your digestion humming along nicely. In fact, the frequency of your poop can be one of the best indicators of your overall health and whether you have an underlying issue, like a food sensitivity or infection, that needs to be addressed.

This answer to this question will vary somewhat based on the individual. "Everyone should have at least one bowel movement per day. However, it is normal to have up to three bowel movements daily, one after each meal," says Vincent Pedre, M.D., integrative gut health specialist and mbg Collective member.

Functional medicine doctor (and healthy poop enthusiast) Wendie Trubow, M.D., agrees: "In an ideal world, eating will stimulate the need to use the bathroom," she says. "At a minimum, one is expected to have a bowel movement once a day, but it could easily be three times in a day if the gut is functioning well."

This suggestion differs a bit from what you'll hear elsewhere. Many articles state that pooping as infrequently as three times a week is still in a "normal" range, but our experts say that this certainly isn't optimal. While someone may not have a serious health issue at this frequency, they would likely be pretty uncomfortable, says Pedre. 

If you find yourself pooping too often or too infrequently—or you're noticing a weird deviation from your normal, healthy poop routine that just doesn't feel right—there could be a number of factors at play. Some causes are harmless. Case in point: Hormonal fluctuations before and during your period can cause diarrhea (triggered by elevated prostaglandins) or constipation (triggered by elevated progesterone), which typically resolve in a couple of days.

Others causes of weird bowel movements may be an indicator that you need to make some dietary and lifestyle changes.

"If you are having a bowel movement every other day or less frequently—or you experience pain and straining—then you may be suffering from constipation," says Pedre. "For many people this is caused by dehydration and a diet low in fiber."

The problem with not pooping enough? For one, when your poop remains in your intestines, it's not doing its job to naturally remove waste from your body, says Pedre. Not to mention, it could cause painful hemorrhoids from straining.

Oftentimes, simple changes such as taking a probiotic with Bifidobacterium (or a spore-based probiotic), increasing fluid intake, eating more high-fiber foods like leafy greens, and engaging in regular physical activity can help manage constipation and get you back into balance.*

Often, pooping too frequently corresponds with diarrhea, which is never a good thing, as it could be an indicator of an acute illness like viral gastroenteritis (the stomach flu) or a more chronic condition such as a food intolerance or sensitivity. "Generally, if you are having more than three bowel movements daily, a more serious issue may be happening," says Pedre. "This could be due to lactose intolerance or fructose malabsorption. Some people have problems with foods high in short-chain carbohydrates known as FODMAPs, and this can lead to uncomfortable bloating and diarrhea."

The problem with pooping too much? Overly rapid transit through the gut may decrease the absorption2 of essential nutrients since the gut does not have time for proper uptake, says Trubow. Dehydration, fatigue, and anal irritation are also a concern, says Pedre.

If you're pooping too frequently (and you don't think it's caused by something like a stomach bug), there are several things you can try at home. Adding in a multi-strain probiotic is always a good idea to help digestion run smoothly, says Pedre.* Also, incorporating starches like rice and boosting your intake of soluble fiber (e.g., gluten-free oatmeal) can help bulk up your stool as well.

The shape (or lack thereof) and color of your poop can also be an important indicator of overall health and how well your digestive system is working—as can the amount of effort it takes you.

"Poop can range in shapes from what I'll call 'bunny poops,' which indicate constipation, to a thick pipe (ideal), to watery, which indicates either an infectious source, too little fiber, or some kind of irritable process like a food sensitivity or reaction," says Trubow. "Poop can be a number of colors as well depending on what you are eating, which you know if you've ever eaten beets, but tends toward shades of brown, from light to dark."