Very informative, poonurse. I always thought producing floaters meant you had plenty of fiber in your diet. I have a combination of both floaters and sinkers which apparently coincide with my gassiness. Cool. Now I know.

I've been on a spate of floaters for the past 6 weeks or so. I attributed it to my increased intake of nuts. I thought it was the fat in the nuts, but I guess it's just all gas.

Di--
I don't think so. We have hard water back home in NC, and have a state of the art water softener here in MI. My poop sinks both places.

I had a killer hamburger last night, for anyone interested. We get them back home in NC. Bubba Burgers. I have badgered and badgered the Meiers here until they finally broke down and ordered them just to shut me the hell up.

Bubba Burgers. Your poop sure won't float after you eat one of those babies...

Excellent report, PN! I was wondering this...
Does the hardness or softness of the water have any effect? If you water contains more minerals, does you poop tend to float more easily? Hmmmm...

I on the other hand, produce mainly darkish looking cocoa puffs or rabbit turds. There is sometimes a large quantity of them and these little chocolate bullets huddle at the mouth of the pipe and there are so many I cannot count them. They NEVER float. I do not consider myself a vegan, but I have never liked meat such as steak or pork chops. In fact, the only kind of mean I have and ever will take a hankering to is hotdogs, McDonalds burgers, and lunch meat. Could my mostly vegan and processed meats diet be causing my cocoa puff turds? They are also often very hard in consistency. Maybe once a week I will have a good healthy 5-7inch turd...but mostly its nuggets.

Thx, PN. I used to have hard well water and I don't remember anything about the difference of how the turds sank or floated. I only remember the sulphur smell. BTW, I'm not as illiterate as I sounded in my above comment - "If you water contains more minerals, does you poop tend to float more easily?"
I just need to check shit before I flush it down the drain!

I agree with your analysis here, poonurse. I almost always do sinkers, and I know that it's because of my diet, which ordinarily consists of fish, veggies, salads and other fiber-rich dishes like beans. I guess the last time I saw a floater was when I walked into a stall and someone had forgotten to flush!

Floater free myself, and proud of it! Great report Poonurse.
And yes, Sinkers and Floaters is a great name for a couple of basketball teams. Unfortunately, the name has already been taken by Spike TV's "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" for one of their events-the rock over water run thing I think. Well, now I can think of them as floating and sinking poo! haha!

Wow, are vegetarians obsessed about their dookie? I mean, I'm pretty up front about my vegetarianism, but that's because I have an inability to eat my friends. I never really thought about floaties, as I call them.
I learned something about poop today. As always, thank you Poonurse.

Oh yeah, and I float quite a bit. It's not a 100% thing, but it's quite the normal deal. This means I'm gassy. Great.

I find that I produce more floaters at work, and sinkers at home. I wonder why that is. I must fart more at work. It sort of sets the mood for how I feel here at least.

I think I'm half and half. I always thought it depended on my mood. When I'm happy, they float; when I'm down, so are my turds. Talk about synergy.

Poo Nurse:

Actually the perfect turd floats in the bowl with the pointy end up and the turtle head end down. This is caused by the fact that the first matterial to emerge is denser and has a lower gaseous content as all the farts have been squeezed out of the lead material.

The pointed portion of the turd (caused by the spincter squeeze) contains more gas due to all the farts that were backed up and waiting on account of the turtle head blocking the port.

You can guarantee the production of a good Bobber by late-night snackin' on such stuff as pickled beets, cabage rolls, watermelon, and popcorn. That way when you evacuate in the morning, you are more likely to plop a Bobber. And it's really neat when the pointy end is all beet red and bobbin' above the pool line in the potty. Cool!

Peace in the Plop Pot. TH.

TH!!!!
Lurking in the hizzy..............

In space, every turd is a floater.

Maybe there's a new contest.

Take the movies' slogans and revise them.

Alien,

"In space, no one can hear you poop."

Wondering... Does force have anything to do with it? For instance, if I'm sitting on the toilet, and I'm in a rush, and I shoot one down, it hits the bottom of the toilet, and breaks up. Would the individual pieces of feces float? Why am I interested in this? Do you know any good psychologists?

4 out the 5 voices in my head can recommend one.

And, to answer your question, I think that since gas is dispersed in the entire amount of your poop, then it would be like breaking a log of wood up and watching all pieces float.
Good question. I hope Poonurse agrees. She says she's not a doctor, but I think she sells herself short.

I consistently had sinkers and thought I was pretty healthy until about three weeks ago, I started taking lecithin and drinking green tea and kombucha, and now consistently have floaters. I thought this was a bad sign until tonight when I have found people saying floaters are the sign of health. ? I can't tell, I feel the same, but I'm definitely eating better now. I just can't make heads or tails out of the info on which is "best"...

I have to aggree with Chip Brown up above. I have been getting acupunture for allergies and digestion, but I also started eating a lot of nuts. Well, they started floating and where very large. I am finding a pattern of people who are saying nuts will do it. :) You can find any thing on the internet these days.

Bek and Yo,
Don't kill yourself for floaters. They just aren't worth it. You will eventually tire of green tea, lecithin and kombucha, anyway.

Yo--I eat lots of nuts and rarely have a floater.

the "bouy"
an upright floater

i have been a floater for all my life until taking antibodics i leave a crummy sinker pile 2-5 times a day so i quit taking them.

I have been on a popcorn kick, eating about a gallon sized bowl full each night. And bingo- floaters. The downside: You have to flush twice - the floaters put up a fight!

I had been thinking my change from a sinker to a floater was due to dietary changes but on review that doesn't fit the timeline.

What does though is I became a floater at the same time I became a methanogenerator as distinct from my previous state as a hydrogen sulphide producer. this change came about due to the total destrution of intestinal flora due to 'triple' antibiotics (mouth, ass needle and IV. When my flora recovered it was methane generating dominant species.

Could this in part explain floaters/ sinkers? Most people in our cuture are sulphide producers. I wonder if in cultures where more people are methane if more of their poops float?

Poonurse, I have mostly large, pellet-like floaters during the day, along with maybe one sinker at a different time (usually after breakfast). In the morning, I have painful gas that will not exit (which makes for a painful morning sit :((! I don't really notice gas throughout the rest of the day. I am a vegetarian but my diet is never consistent.
I bought Acidophilus last night to aid in the enzyme digestion. Do you think that will help and perhaps stop the painful morning gas?

I haven't had a floating shit in years and I'm gassier than any of you guys.

I usaully produce floaters for some reason. I like floaters. There like little boats :)
FLOATERS RULE!!!

Lately I have had much gas ... a lot more than usual and Im not a vegiterian and dont eat vegetables very often but still awyls have floaters

Don't take those floaters for granted. You never lnow when that flooting deuce might be your last.

Youve all got it wrong. The problem is not whether they sink or float but how to get rid of those floaters with the density of a ping pong ball.

They invariably occur at the girlfriend's mother's house and are extremely malodorous to boot. They refuse to flush and I usually have to resort to devious methods to dispose of these unwelcome excretions. The reems of bog roll like layers over the top, hoping to weigh it down is doomed to fail as the swirling waters deftly remove it from the krap. Trying the broomstick or toilet brush to break it up only produces smaller floating piles. Untimately you give up and leave them there as if exhibiting a major work of art to the next customer.

Trouble is the next customer is always the mother and I never get invited there again.

I am a consistant (90%) floater. My girlfriend is a 100% sinker. Do that mean men will rule the world? Just Kidding.

Want to hear something weird? When I'm in L.A., my poo always floats, but when I'm in NYC, my poo always sinks. My diet is not remarkably different when I travel. It's got to have something to do with the water.

Good god, Poonurse you have once again saved all us crappers out there a great deal of dissapointment in trying to acheive a crap that isn't worth it.. for this I think you. and by the way, You and everyone else related to this site are my heroes. when I'm bigger I want to be a pooplogist.

that is possibly the best useless information i ever heard nice one geeza

Floating poop may be a symptom of pamcreatitis, which can cause malabsorption. if you have said symptom for a while, might want to get checked out for diabetes, or dont drink so much:)

Great report poonurse!
I wanted to know what the nutritive value of shit is, because my 8 year old son keeps eating his own shit all the time evnthough he knows that its sick and disgusting.
Please help.

I first had diarrhea my senior year in college and have had it 4 other times since then. I can not stand it and love my solid poo. The strange thing is, most of my solid poo through all of my life would float. Then, when I had diarrhea a couple of times it started sinking. Just a month ago I had diarrhea and now poo is up and floating again. Out of the 30 or so turds from a huge dump maybe 2 will sink. I just went this morn and they all floated as well. Very peculiar.

Someone once told me that if your poop floats, it means you ate something healthy, and if your poop sinks, it's not bad but it means that it has more fat in it, like you said.

Why does the corn in your poop not break up like the other foods?

Craigory,
Whole corn kernels never digest. I first saw this using an outhouse in South America, and it was then that I realized why Science Diet pet food is really bad for animals. The primary ingredient is corn. And that's aside from the kick-backs that the vets get.

...he he.it reminds me of the one time i ate a piece of pizza...and then i went to this 60 year old guys hows and made him ---- me in the --- in front of his----!!!

This girl that i work with, Trudy(whos kinda cute and has a real nice Rack, you know? Puppy-dog noses? I mean their these babies are chiseled man! You could bounce a quarter off 'em!!! Anyway....ummmmm? Where was I?
Oh!! Well she says her Poo floats because she eats lotsa fibre. man, I just dont get it. I mean I know my are heavier--that is to say, more dense. Therefore- i'm less full-of-shit and thus correct in my Assessment that feces that floats is full of air pockets or some damn damn thing. Anyway-I DO know this...Poop that floats leaves smudge marks and never has a perfect (pointy) beginning and end! Sometimes it just breaks off or has to be smeeeeeeared off..leaving a nice poo-ey residue. Im gonna keep eating what im eating cuz i like my butt super-clean with minimal residue! Yay me!

Soap is made of fat and lye, and soap floats....large quantities of vegetable fats combine with bile (form of lye) from the liver to produce poopie soap.

I wouldn't suggest washing with it, though.

My partner has complained to me that her poop has been slightly runny and black for the last couple of days, any idea?

Chris (London UK)

I need help on getting rid of floaters. It's not mine, it's from the cat.....I had to clean out the kitty litter. All but one turd flushed. This last one has been there for over a day. I've flushed many many times, tried using toilet paper, crapping on top of it, even tried adding salt and vinegar to see what would happen. I just can't get rid of it! I don't wanna have to go turd-fishing, but I dunno what else I can do.

Cholesterol medication always produces 100% sinkers, and when you have floaters, it is guarenteed that you have been eating bad.

For Chris: Runny and blackish poo might mean blood.

I was taking Xenical for a time, very greasy poos, but no floaters, so fat is not it. I think that gas content might be it. Gas is put out by intestinal bacteria and flora which can be/but not everytime, influenced by the food we eat

You realise of course, you are all weird!! haha

Okay i have found out recently im pregnant and ive been on prenatals for a month now and noticed my poo floating ,never seen it do that before ,I've always heard your body is lacking IRON? I dunno maybe im healthy now who knows i'll ask the doctor thursday lol

Wow -- I'm in turd heaven!

I've been an avid poop-watcher for decades; I'm also a vegetarian, of all things, AND a nurse -- more than qualified to make some observations here: I too always thought it was fat that made floaters. There is this certain brand of veggie burgers that consistently gives me floaters -- and healthy low fat foods loaded with fiber always produces sinkers.

My farts are noisy but not too unpleasant; my husbands' smell bad enough to wake me from a deep sleep (I love him a lot) and make me wish I'd invested in a gas mask. His diet is all FIBER! and his poop always s(t)inks.

My idea of heaven is a long, rather big turd that just slides out all nice and easy with a tapered end (so my anus sings with delight) and sinks right on down. One or two of these a day -- better than sex (my husband loves me too).

May you all enjoy your favorite poop today and everyday!

Mrs. Luvyrpoops

Diet may well have some bearing. I am a carnivoire, apart from potatoes I detest most Fruit and Veg and wont eat it them (I get my Vitamin C from soft drinks etc). My turds are firm and they usually are sinkers. A former GF was more into Veggie food although she did eat fish and white meat such as chicken. Her jobbies were easier and smooth but formed not mushy thankfully and were nice big ones but usually came out as a big curved sausage or two but were usually floaters, so the fiber content must have some connection to whether a turd sinks or floats. BTW her poos stunk a lot more than mine!

wow!! i've never seen so much shitty conversation, its beautiful. i haven't had a floater since...a bathtub incident when i was young (about 25). through good times and bad, sickness and health, meat and no meat, gassy and not gassy...the only thing that remains the same is the time in port, usually 2 days,time enough for the gas to be sqeezed out perhaps?

My boom boom only floats after a big night of drinking, and its soft and squishy. Why?

What the heck have I stumbled into here???
too funny!!!

TSV made the statement in a different thread that you are better off if your poop floats--that way if you are drowning, you can shit yourself a life raft!

Ah, TSV, please hurry back from your journies!

Brown submarines, mersey trouts, chocolate logs, dirty depthcharges, turtles, names dont do justice we need photographic evidence.

I have been eating more veggies lately especially broccoli. When I eat more, I get more floaters. If I eat a burger or fruits the poop sinks. Must be something with veggies and the gas thing. Broccoli produces lots of gas!

My poop usually is solid but in the last few weeks my poop has floated. I have always farted a ton. Should i be worried?

I just left a poop and noticed that it sank. I used to have floaters....all floaters. But I just recently started to eat more veggies and my poop now sinks. I noticed that all of the comments on here change up. So is there no way of telling what makes poop float or sink? The world may never know. I find the subject fascinating.

Fats float, solids don't. Fascinating? Yes, science is pretty darn interesting.

For as long as I can remember I have very rarely produced sinkers. I've never understood why people are so worried about sinkers or floaters but apparently I have very desireable bowel movements.

I am a total bread and cereal person but love meat too! I eat really healthily with little fat and always have 3 veggies - green yellow and white (moms guidelines - a nurse). I have always made terrific long, amazingly long, nice textured, very sticky sinkers. The more wholegrain cereal I eat, Like Fibre One and Wheat Germ, the more they sink! Suddenly, after years of such marvellous production, I have FLOATERS! What has happened? I started eating more Familia Muesli every morning, maybe it is the uncooked oats etc in it? Nasty shock to a devoted sinker man who regards Floaters as a sign of a diseased bowl! Ha Ha

Ya know..........if we didn't poop in a toilet, we wouldn't even be discussing this topic.........none of us would even know how buoyant our poop was if it didn't plop into a bowl full of water. Therefore, I blame this controversy all on the person who invented the toilet. hehehehe

Poonurse,
This site is great. I have found that eating greasy fried foods gives me more gas. Since quitting my full time job and cooking at home more, I have less gas. One trip to Taco Bell or the Chinese Buffet and I am all gassy again! I could beat my husband in a fart contest anyday. Oh yes, taco seasoning in food is the most stink producing thing I have found. P.U.!

Its odd, I had sinkers always until I flushed my gallbladder and liver (twice in one month) of stones, over 300 in 2 flushes ranging in size from a corn seed to a quarter!! Painlessly I may add.

I passed one stone that was oval and an inch and 1/2 long and about 3/4 inch wide, I believe that one came out because of the epson salts day two of the second stone flush.

It dropped like a ROCK lol. Kerplunk ! After that second flush I starter producing 1/2 and 1/2 floaters and sinkers. When flushing I felt the gallstone coming down painlessly (I took NO constipating pain killers with this flush) "I" felt no pain.

After a 16 (yummy) oz drink of olive oil, with equally yummy 5 lemons juiced spaced equally over 2 hours at about 6pm , then the morning after drinking 2 tablespoons of epson salts dissolved in a glass of water. (not recommended for everyone Im told by a doctor)

This brought forth the humungoid stone that the first cleanse without doing the epson salts produced.

Amazing, this cleansing seems to have set me back 15 years (48 now) in digestion. Of course I never paid attention 15 years ago to floaters or sinkers. Much Much less pain under my right rib cage after a meal.

Could this replenished gallbladder bile be related ? Is it acidic bile in the duodenum that produces gassy floaters ?

http://www.drmccarty.com/gallstones.htm
All Disclaimers Apply.

Good news for all floater producing poopers , yeah ! If they persist in your throne then blast em with a 12 gauge shotgun. Voila Gone !

My Neighbors say that wakes em up so I had to stop.

Another way might be one of those plunger thingies for thrones that runneth over.

I have wondered about this for years now. The first time I heard this mentioned (and only time) was when I caught the tail end of an Oprah Winfrey Show. She was with a celebrity that had just written a book (about fitness). I cannot remember her name, she was apparently very heavy and had become a fitness guru. She had VERY short bleach blond hair and possibly breast cancer???? Very loud and outgoing. Anyway, Oprah said that she particulary enjoyed the chapter on floaters and sinkers.... they talked about it but never said which was better or why.... and I have felt I missed something BIG for the last 7 years or so.... LOL

Susan Powter, or something like that. She was the potato princess: she always referenced how little fat and how much nutrition a baked potato had in relation to other foods. I wonder what ever happened to her.

The Floater
I pinched a loaf in the porcelain sea,
It floated there, staring back at me.
It floated, I say - it didn't sink
It lay on the surface and raised a stink.
A solitary turd adrift in the pot,
It lay quietly, (didn't bob alot)
Got me to thinking, and thinking some more,
Trying to come up with a metaphor.
A pithy saying with wisdom and wit,
But no matter what, it was still just shit.

I never everrrr have floaters! Not only do they sink but i never get to see them cause they sink so far down in the toilet! I call them "Ghost Divers". My farts are almost always silent and rarely ever smell. GO TEAM SINKERS!!!

what does it mean if my farts sometimes smell like cooking sausages and onions? they dont have a fart smell at all, once someone walked in the room and said "whats cookin?"

I'm a die hard sinker and my brother is the mysterious float making factory in the house. Maybe he doesn't realize that they take a little extra attention to flush down, and I find myself left with the suprise. And I believe the methane/gaseous philosophy hands down because my brother can chase us out of the house while the door is still closed.

I went oystering this weekend and came home with a bushel. I have been eating oysters on a daily basis since then and consistently producing floaters. Coincidence or science?!

my poop floated for the very first time today and i stumbled upon this website while trying to find out what floaters means, and I must say" great job". It's nice to hear other people opening up about their poop. thanks poopnurse!!!!

My poop almost never floats. I produce about 99% sinkers and 1% floaters. I can't remember my last floater.

The only thing that makes my poop float is if I take to much laxative.
_______
It's not nice to fool mother nature.

Has anyone else been having trouble getting floaters to flush? i stay in a shared uni accomodation so its a bit embarrassing for teh next person in teh toilet if it hasnt successfully flushed first time.

Just the other day I laid down some moose tracks and all of them sank to the bottom except for one. I guess it wanted to stand out from the crowd. I can't remember what I ate that day but it didn't put up much of a fight when it sank to it's final destination in communal turd hell.

I'm normally a floater and that's been ok - until about the last couple of months. Suddenly, they've become extra-floaty, and just refuse to flush! Once it took 5 flushes to get rid. By this time, my flatmates are getting suspicious. Anyway, having read this article, I suspect it might be something to do with my healthier diet. I suppose I'd better just get some more burgers in. Or a better toilet.

Always remember to flush with the seat DOWN! I have been drinking a TON of wine over the past few weeks and my poo is floating to heaven. I often come into the loo for another go and find a commenorative gift from the last time I was there! And I fart a zillion but never any fragrance!

I recently changed my diet and went "cold turkey" (pardon the pun) from carnivore to herbivore (mostly...though I still have an occasional plate of shell fish or omelette).

*6 to 10 fruits of variety per day
*some veggies as they tend to be hard on the GI
*occasional salmon, hard boiled egg
*whole grains, though not frequent
*no red meat
*no poultry
*no refined sugar/hydrogenated veg oils
*carbs have to be complex at all times such as multi-grains, rice, etc...(but still hard on GI)
*used to engage in consumption of raw salmon/eggs/etc....stopped for fear of salmonella poisoning (1 out of 10,000 eggs has salmonella)...if we were still living in Paleo times, it could be done*******

Poop since changing diet:
(depends on what I had for that meal...and yes, I poop after every meal: 3X/day)

*long, banana shape, caramel color, doesn't leave much residue to wipe away clean with TP, floats to the top, eventually sinks after approx 30 secs....yes, I've counted.

*skinny, tubular link-like formations, also caramel color, floats to the top, some bits sink, some don't, usually doesn't wipe clean w/ TP...this is when I've had my fair share of multi-grain dense bread....and when I say multi-grain, I mean it...it's chock full of just grains and not much else! I usually have the sulfur stinky farts before hand, so, this might be a clue.

*an occasional sinker, but hardly ever...not like most of my life where my diet was refined sugar/hydrogenated veg oil rich with no fruits/veggies and plenty of red meat....I used to love fatty bacon!

What was poop like for me most of my life before switching to this diet?
(Obviously not healthy)

*3 to 4 poops per wk...exemplifying the typical modern western diet

*bathroom time was usually 30 mins each visit

*stools were extremely hard to the touch, dark brown, never wiped clean, always had a foul smell, and a lot of times were accompanied with blood as I constantly had hemerrhoids (msp?)

*constipation was always accompanied with mood swings, depression, abdominal pain and swelling, spider veins (yes, even as a teenager...probably will never get rid of them), and a host of other problems like acne!

*another marked difference with the change in my diet leading to more frequent bowel movements is a flawless complexion. I was on Accutane twice in my life for severe acne. A lack of important vitamins especially A and minerals especially zinc, and last but not least, to clear out that GI tract of putrefying waste, clears acne.

*****I hope this helps all who question.

Anyway, I hope this helps all who are in question.

What about beer shits? After a night of drinking I always have a huge sinker followed by lots of small skinny and twisty floaters later in the day. Its like a fire drill for the poop kids in my intestines..."everybody out now!"

LOTS of fiber = floater

Actually, I don't buy your gas theory. I think that just being a vegetarian won't necessarily float them either. I think it is the level of fiber you have in your diet. I am not a vegetarian, but I eat mostly vegtable matter in the meals I prepare. Importantly, I eat the equivalent of a wicker chair in fiber every morning -- a serving bowl of Kellogs albran mixed with hot oatbran, nuts and raisens -- and at about the same moment every morning, I take a brontosaurous-sized dump that not only floats, but has half of its mass sticking up out of the water. In fact I have to have my toilet set to as-full-as-the-tank-can-get or they won't even go down with one flush. The only time they sink is the morning after I go out to dinner and have heavy food, like steak with lots of starchy stuff, follwed by some sort of heavy desrt. Also on these occasions, besides being heavier, the crap has a more gooey apoxy like quality, which makes it a lot slower coming out and a lot messyer wiping with the cra-wrap. I hate that shit! But with my frequent fibrous offal, the entire mass comes out quickly and leaves very little residue to be wiped off with the paper. See my next post for my rant on toilet paper.

My promised toilet paper rant:
Scenario: You are out in your yard and reach down to pick up a stick to throw for your dog and you aren't watching very carefully and you stick your hand right into one of Fido's turds. What do you do? Do you wash your hands with soap and water -- or at least water if no soap is available, or do you take a dry piece of paper and wipe it off, calling that clean enough? The latter is what almost all Americans do after dumping. I have spoken to Europeans that are quite appalled almost total absence of Bidets in the US. A frind of mine from Germany who was staying at my house who really missed his bidet. His solution to the problem was taking a shower whenever he took a dump.
What do you think?

Okay, I thought I was weird to look this up on google, but I've been producing floaters for two straight solid weeks. I attribute this to a new drink, those V8 flavored drinks they have now, I've been drinking one a day, and...constant floaters. Coincidence?

For the last year or so I've gone from sinkers to floaters. Not a day goes by now that I don't produce floaters. Solid, normal in every way but floaters. My diet has not really changed any so why would I go from sinkers all of my life to floaters almost overnight?

I have a niece who only poops floaters. I know this, because whenever I visit my bro, there are floaters in his toilet. Sometimes they never sink, and have to be removed. He blames his daughter.

In regards to the previous post about the lack of bidets in the US...that is why I hate low flow toilets. Due to the reduced diameter of the bowl and the increased diameter of my ass(due to age, not the widely rumored infection), I can no longer get far enough into the toilet to wash my bottom off.

Ok. I found it, I read it and now I must respond to it. I came upon this delight of a website not long ago while precariously researching Floaters vs. Sinkers. Not because a floater or a sinker generally intrigues me or even makes me blink an eye.

I introduce: The Suspender

This elusive beast laughs at categorization. It is neither a floater nor a sinker. The skills of this monster are unparallelled in the evacuation industry. This turd, in all it's glory, suspends itself in mid-bowl and seemingly enters a 'Zero-Gravity Zone' (ZGZ). I've never seen a bowel movement laugh so haughtily at the laws of physics as The Suspender did.

I must say, I impressed even myself that day.

I implore the masses: Have you ever looked eye-to-stinkload with such an animal?
________________
Droppin' the deuce since 1980.....

Thank you for your myth-busting revelations!

If you check with Medical trained physicians, especially your Gastrointerologist (everyone should have one checking their colon out!) they will tell you that it is indeed fiber which makes poop float.. This seemed to be written towards slanting medical views to fit the original posters own opinion and experiences based upon the fact that they have irregularly achieved floaters therefor it must be normal not to have floaters.. But it's not.. your diet.. even as a vegan may not be rich enough in fiber in order to achieve healthful floaters.. your goal should be about 10 grams of fiber per meal.. and at least 35 grams of fiber per day.. Try adding more seeds to your diet like flax or psyllium, or sprinkling bran over your food at each meal.. and this will make a big difference in cleaning you out completely and giving you those longed for healthy bowel movements.. If you are pooping properly from getting enought fiber.. you shouldn't have to strain.. and the final result should produce waste that is generally lighter in color (unless foods like beets or spinach were consumed), floating and less foul smelling. Happy, fibre, fibre, fibre to everyone..

Great poop content folks. So informative. Having recently switched from a high fat, high calorie diet to a high fiber, low fat diet, I'm discovering many changes in my poop patterns. I'm mostly birthing floaters. Thanks for setting me straight and giving me the poop on poop.

I am surprised to be on this site, but feel compelled to ask...I have ALWAYS had sinkers.
Recently, in the past 2 weeks, nothing but floaters. No change in diet, water, etc. What could cause this sudden change. I never thought it really mattered to me because I thought once a sinker always a sinker...but why the change now??? This floater has started my worry motor!!!

Before 4 months of severe antibiotics I was a floater - now (8 months later) still a sinker and cannot say that I feel as energetic as before.

I have been doing floaters now for months, i lost weight from size 16 to a 6.. now a 10.. i have serious IBS which is gas and my dr thinks my food isnt absorbing properly, im allergic 2 soya lactose dairy, but still have some 2 keep the weight on. . it has to be gas although i dont drink fizzy stuff?? i am also taking lots medicines and fybogel

u kno, i never really even noticed the difference. but now that i have thought about it, im a fairly consistant sink bomb producer. the only time ive ever noticed the brown stuff floating is after a night of taco bell... the next day im good for at least 3 trips to the thundermug* and even tho its not liquid, it damn sure isnt solid either, just floaty lumpy clumpy runny stuff. damn imitation food...

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oh man, i feel soo much better. i think i lost a few pounds... dont even think about going in there for at least 20-30 minutes. dont worry, i left the fan on.

* the word thundermug courtesy of Alterscheiss

This is without a doubt one of the funniest and most informative sites I've ever seen. Absolutely hysterical!!
I will definately be back for further poop updates :-)

My poops have never floated, that I remember and I eat lots of fresh veggies, nuts, whole grains, etc. My husband, however, always has floaters and has the worst diet (and gas) ever! So what's the reasoning here? I say, "If a man poops in the woods and there's no water there to see if it sinks or floats, does anybody really care?"

ac - mine very rarely do either, and though i eat quite healthily now, I used to be terrible - but whatever the diet, they've usually sunk. I think it is size that counts here, for once - if you do big thick ones of at least 6 x 2 inches - they will sink!! Little ones may not!

Oddly enough, mine are all sinkers, and eerily look like hamsters wearing cement shoes...I wonder what Richard Gere would say to that???

Bilgepump (534) -- 08.01.2007 -- wrote: "
...I wonder what Richard Gere would say to that???"

"You flushed Uncle Henry!!!" ???

wow, i cant beleive that whole richard gere/gerbil thing is still around after like 15-20 years...

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oh man, i feel soo much better. i think i lost a few pounds... dont even think about going in there for at least 20-30 minutes. dont worry, i left the fan on.

Thank you for this site. Lots of good information. I have been conscious of my stool for a very long time and I have a mix of sinkers and floaters depending on my diet and probiotic condition of my bowels. I have been taking Hemp oil for the last year and have never had such beautiful movements. They are soft and come out in an instant, even very large movements come out in a second with no effort. I also use a "stool Stool" something I built to assist in my movements. The natural way to eliminate is to crouch like you were going in the woods. This is the natural position for elimination. I am not going to crouch on the toilet (too dangerous)so I built a 8" high foot stool and when I sit on the toilet I put my feet on the stool which curves my lower back and creates the perfect position for elimination. I have been doing this for years and I have never been happier with my elimination. Everyone should try it, I am sure you will find it benificial. Happy elimination to all!!!

oook cher... to each his own, if coppin a literal squat helps u then go for it. personally ill keep sittin, its the best way to catch up on some reading or just enjoy a smoke...

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oh man, i feel soo much better. i think i lost a few pounds... dont even think about going in there for at least 20-30 minutes. dont worry, i left the fan on.

poop always floats in salt water so just jump into ocean and watch it nothing worse when you jump into ocean to poop and it floats around you ha,ha. smiling faces to all poopers

I think I have IBS and have produced sinkers as far back as I can remember and i'm very gassy. And my poops occasionaly come out like a play-doh factory, long and winding, looks like a snake coiled up in the toilet. I did produce a floater the other day, can't say why, no change in diet though I have been taking a multivitamin for the past month. I stopped because it was turning my poops black.

I always hope i have floaters, because they're fun to flush. Usually though, I just have these massive logs that sink slowly. I can't make any connections with my diet and poop's buoyancy. It's pretty random.

i produce floaters and sinkers..
you see when i poop, i get pellets that sink and a small log that floats..
does that mean something??
that's what made me google it..

My p__p always floats. My diet of balsa and styrofoam may be the reason

Okay - the issue with floaters is they don't flush. Simple.

what on earth have i just been reading!!

I had a weight watcher leader tell us that floaters mean you are eating too much fat. The fat makes the poo float. If your diet is rich in fiber, low in fat, the poo will sink.

Lately I've started gaining weight at an alarming speed, my poo which used to often float is now sinking. I have it in my head that my body must be retaining all the fat instead of sluffing it off in my poop.

crap, is it just my eating habits and not a medical reason?

thank you so much for this informative info! i totes thought there was something wrong everytime i came back from the bathroom and realized my poop was sinking! i'm used to seeing those babies float, so i got nervous that i was eating too much fatty foods and it was causing them to sink. instead i probs have that stomach thing in your gi tract that you talked about.. SWEET LIFE! peace & love

My older sister came up to me and my twin and asked us y some poop sink and and float we cant believe we found a answer we r so excited!!!

my friend has a lousy diet, lots of medications, fats and meats...she is thinking she is doing well since her poo sinks! whats up with that?

my poop floats like little balls, but the bigger ones sink

I always thought you should strive for the floater, but,Hhuh...learn something new everyday. I just like having 'em everyday, whether they sink or float...they're coming out.

It's also a question of water absorption. You can eat all the fiber you want, but if your electrolytes are shot, you'll get hard sinkers every time. I when I gave up meat and ate lots of fiber, I ended up with very solid hay-like sinking turds that looked and smelled like some kind of animal doo. I swear you wouldn't recognize the smell as "poop-like" at all, very weird.

Every time I feel a little constipated, I drink gatorade, eat bananas, and probiotic yogurt and it clears up right away. A small plain water enema does the trick, too: it stimulates peristalsis without irritating anything, and quickly re-hydrates you.

My normal stools these days are 2-inch roundish semi-floaters that don't smell bad. Go figure.

MIne are neither floaters or sinkers. They are mixers.

Floaters? Sinkers? How mundane! Mine do the backstroke and sing show tunes. Should I maybe reduce the dosage a little?

I wonder who went through all this poop to find that out?

I literally can't remember the last time I had a floater. My diet has varied to some extent, and my digestion is sometimes gassy, sometimes not; but my poop always sinks. Before my operations, I didn't drink much water, so my poops were big and hard; they sank. Now I drink a lot of water (64 oz/day or more), so the poop is softer, though still well formed; it sinks. Today I had one of my harder ones recently, about a 3 on the Bristol Stool Scale; it sank. I'm content with sinkers.

I mostly float some monsters but today I let a few turds loose and one sank and two floated. I don't know how this happens.

Thanks for this page! I was doing some research because I overheard a conversation at work regarding someone congratulating her 4 year old daughter on a "healthy poop" because it floated. Since mine tend to be all over the place (but I would guess more on the sinking side of things) I thought I'd better do some research!

My theory ( regarding cholestral ); Two months ago, at 40, I was told I have high cholesterol. The doctor said I need to lower it from my 242. I refuse to be on medication & make the pharmaceutical companies rich, therefore chose to go the natural route. I started taking the supplement “ red yeast rice”, which is supposed to lower it by 40 points with no change in diet. ( I already have a good diet & exercise every week) I have been taking it 2 months & now have these so called floaters for the first time in my life. I think it is a good sign, and has something to do with how your body processes fat.

I have always had poo the floated and thought that it meant that I was healthy. On the odd occasions I have had sinkers (which were stinkers) which usually called for a more urgent visit to the toilet. However in the past 2 weeks, while I have not made any change that I am aware of to my diet,I have had consistent sinkers. Should I be concerned with this change in bowl habit? I certainly feel that I have been more flatulent than normal also and as with past sinkers they are stinkers!

Be careful, or your floating poo might get caught in your drive shaft, collect some oleander, and fly in your face. Then it'll go into you appendix and you'll catch San Francisco AIDS.

Oh, wait. Wrong thread... Sorry.

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Born right the first time.

A constant string(no pun intended) of floaters can be an indication of trouble with the Pancreas, in that it is not digesting fat, which of course floats.

i don't know about healthy. i've never had floaters until just now (which is how i found this site) and my diet tonight has consisted of bbq chips, monster (an energy drink), mnt.dew, a fruit parfait (maybe its the fruit?) and grilled cheese sandwiches.

A.C. 4/18, if your change to sinking poop is accompanied by pain, bleeding, or other unfavorable symptoms, you should be concerned. Otherwise, let yourself go. Perhaps your gas is escaping via farting rather than being bound up in your turds, thus making the poop denser. As for me, I fart a lot and have sinking poop.

If the load you just dropped sinks to the bottom of the bowl, then you know you dropped something of significance. A floater probably does'nt have any substance to it.

I recently started a colon clensing program and noticed now I have sinkers. Never did before. I think the fiber has caused the change in conjunction with the "old,nasty" stuff coming out.

When I really follow Atkins and my body is burning fat--they float. When I cheat for 2-3 days they begin the sinking phase. Hence I think it has to do with the fat processing and your body not absorbing fat. Ditto with the gas--If on the program, none--if not, well...I know each person is different, Spinach and too much of other greens constipates me terribly. When this happens, I eat fresh, boiled shrimp or crablegs and the problem is solved

Hi,I shit the other day and it was neon purple, what should I do? A hamster popped out, holy hell!!!!!

I lov the smell of poop is that wierd ?

Mine neither float nor sink, they climb over the rim of the bowl and chase me out of the bathroom.

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Eat chilies and feel the burn!!

I had floaters until I was treated for H Pylori. No more heart burn, gas, or floaters.

I have a serious question. Is there any significance to a normal brown, VERY STICKY stool.-

Hi i just went to the toilet now normally i can do a beaut of a turd however the last few mnths i have had loads of small floating objects in the pan hence me looking for amswers today mind you i just ate a huge chinese meal i wonder if that has anythng to do with it