Photo Credit: Steven and Chris. Some people go after every meal, others, once every few days. Familiarize yourself with your bowel habits so that if there's a consistent change, you'll recognize it and bring it up with your doctor. An average bowel movement should be between four and eight inches long and have the consistency of peanut butter. The Bristol stool chart see above is a handy medical aid for classifying stool.

Understanding the Bristol Stool Scale


Poop: What's Really in It
The Bristol Stool Scale is a useful reference for patients and healthcare professionals to check if the form of poop is healthy — looking at size, shape and consistency. The Bristol Stool Scale depicts 7 types of stool, ranging from the hard and difficult to pass to the liquid form of diarrhea. Your poop is made up of waste products your body needs to remove, which may include undigested food such as fiber, which cannot be digested , bacteria and salts.
What Is Poop? Here’s What’s Healthy, and What’s Not
A large poop can be because you had a large meal — or just because. Poop comes from the digested food material you eat, and it can come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Most of the time, having one or two episodes of an abnormally shaped or unusually colored poop is not cause for concern. However, there may be times when you or even a little one in your household make an abnormally large poop.
Poop happens — to everyone. Although it's natural to flush and hit the sink without a second glance, taking a peek at what's in the toilet bowl can benefit your health. And chances are, there's a lot you never knew, or thought to ask, about your number two. First, even though we often take poop for granted most days, sometimes your poop stool is not normal at all.