Bristol Stool Chart: What Your Poop Says About Digestion
By Leah Barack, Gut Health Expert & Functional Nutritionist
Learn what the Bristol Stool Chart reveals about your poop, gut health, and signs of constipation—and how to support better digestion naturally.
The Bristol Stool Chart can help you classify your bowel movements and what they’re trying to tell you about your gastrointestinal health.
What Is the Bristol Stool Chart?
The Bristol Stool Chart is a visual guide that categorizes stool into seven types, based on shape and texture. It’s a tool used by doctors and gut health practitioners to help assess digestion, gut transit time, and stool quality.
Each stool type gives clues about how quickly (or slowly) food is moving through your digestive tract — and how well your body is breaking things down and absorbing nutrients.
The 7 Types on the Bristol Stool Chart
Type 1: Separate hard lumps (like nuts)
This is severe constipation. Stool has been sitting in the colon for too long, and too much water has been reabsorbed.
→ Common causes: dehydration, low fiber intake, sluggish gut motility, or gut dysbiosis (imbalance in gut bacteria).
Type 2: Sausage-shaped but lumpy
Still a sign of constipation, though less severe than Type 1.
→ Often shows up in people who strain or only go every few days.
Type 3: Like a sausage but with cracks on the surface
Borderline normal, but still slightly dry.
→ Could benefit from more water, fiber, or digestive support.
Type 4: Like a smooth, soft sausage or snake
This is the goal!
Type 4 means your digestion is on track — well-formed, easy to pass, not too hard or too soft.
→ Ideally, you should be having Type 4 poops 1–3 times a day. Yes, daily!!
Type 5: Soft blobs with clear-cut edges
Leaning toward loose stool.
→ Could be from mild irritation, stress, poor fat digestion, or dysbiosis.
Type 6: Fluffy pieces with ragged edges, mushy
Signs of mild diarrhea or urgency.
→ May point to inflammation, food sensitivity, or imbalanced gut bacteria.
Type 7: Watery, no solid pieces
Diarrhea. Stool moved too quickly through the colon, and the body didn’t have time to absorb water or nutrients.
→ Often caused by infection, food poisoning, or significant gut irritation.
Most People Are Constipated — and Don’t Know It
Here’s the thing: many people think they’re regular, but are actually dealing with chronic constipation.
Why? Because outdated advice from many conventional doctors says that going 3–4 times per week is “normal.” But that’s far from ideal.
→ Healthy digestion = 1 to 3 complete bowel movements per day.
If you're going less often than that — or your poops are hard, dry, painful to pass, or feel incomplete — you’re likely constipated, even if you're technically "going."
How to Know If You’re Constipated
You might be constipated if you...
Go less than once per day
Have to strain or push to go
Feel like you’re never fully empty
Have hard, dry, or pellet-like stool (Type 1 or 2)
Frequently skip days without pooping
Rely on coffee, magnesium, or laxatives to go
Feel bloated or heavy after meals
Experience skin breakouts or headaches related to slow detox
Constipation isn’t just uncomfortable — it can mess with your hormones, energy, skin, mood, and overall detox pathways. It also allows toxins and waste to linger in the body far longer than they should.
Dysbiosis and Your Poop
If your stool is consistently off — too hard, too soft, or inconsistent — it could be a sign of dysbiosis, or an imbalance in the gut microbiome.
Dysbiosis can show up as:
Bloating (especially after meals)
Constipation or diarrhea
Gas with a strong odor
Brain fog or fatigue
Food sensitivities
Skin issues like acne or eczema
Balancing your gut bacteria is key for healthy digestion — and your poop is one of the best indicators of whether your gut is in harmony or not.
The Bottom Line: Poop Is a Vital Sign
Just like heart rate or blood pressure, your stool is a daily marker of what’s happening in your body.
The goal? Type 4 poops — 1 to 3 times a day — that are easy to pass, complete, and comfortable.
If you’re not there right now, that’s okay — it just means your gut is asking for a little more support.
Ready to Decode Your Digestion?
If you’re bloated, irregular, or not sure if your poops are normal — you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Book a free Fit Call with me here and let’s explore what’s going on under the surface.