Skinny Chic: How's your poop?

DISCLAIMER: If you have a weak stomach or get queasy when discussing some topics you may want to stop reading now.

Skinny chics this post is a heart to heart about a real barrier to health-gain. I have a real life changing question for you: How's your poop? I mean really, are you frequently constipated or confronting diarrhea? Or are your stools usually on the solid yet soft side? does it usually come out S shaped, a straight line, or little pebbles? Does it float or sink right to the bottom? How often do you poo? Once/twice a month, a week, a day? Do you have bouts of pain when pooing or do you poo with ease?

These are questions that until recently I didn't feel mattered. Who knew that passing poo once a week could actually be a culprit halting my health-gain?

To address the basic science:

a healthy female consumes between 1200-2000 calories a day. The food consumed is broken down by the body into useful nutrients the body can use and the the things the body can't use are pushed through as waste. Your body creates approximately .22-.44 pounds of poop a day. That's 1.54-3.08 lbs of poop a week! APPROXIMATELY 161 LBS OF POOP A YEAR!!!! Have you ever tried passing 3 lbs of poop in one sitting? I'm sure it's not fun & it's not good for your bum.

Poop is important because not going regularly could be a reason why your health-gain is moving at snail pace. But what is regular?

Regular is different for each person. The important thing is that you're consistent for your own routine. If your routine is once a day or every couple of days great! My husband freaks out if he goes less than 7 times a day (ridiculous)!

Good healthy poop should be S shaped & a soft solid. Color doesn't matter (as long as it isn't black - if you have black poop or see blood in your poop stop reading & speak with your doctor immediately because that could indicate bleeding in your colon).

If your poop isn't a soft solid & S shaped here are a few things to consider:

1. Are you getting enough Fiber? 

• A healthy adult needs 30-35 grams daily. 

1. Are you drinking enough water?

• As a rule of thumb take your weight divided by 2 & that's how many ounces of water you should aim for daily. 
• Take that number divided by 8 & that's how many cups you should aim for. 

1. Are you exercising?    

• Exercise helps by decreasing the time it takes food to move through the large intestines, thus limiting the amount of water absorbed from the poo into the body. 
• An added bonus, aerobic exercise accelerates your breathing & heart rate & this helps to stimulate the natural contraction of intestine muscles. Intestinal muscles that contract efficiently help move poop out quickly!
• so take a zumba class this week to jump start your poop routine.

The last interesting thing I'd like to share is PASSING GAS IS NORMAL & NATURAL (& don't you let anyone tell you different). It's actually normal & healthy to pass gas 10-18 times a day! (I can hear my husband groan as he reads this).

So the moral of the story is poop..poop a lot...poop freely...poop without restraint & pass gas while you're at it because with each poop session you're one step closer to obtaining your healthy you.

If you're a fat chic like me stay motivated, be encouraged, and know that inside of every fat chic is a skinny chic waiting to come out.