STOOL FORM AND SYMPTOMS
Bristol stool chart: what each type means
The Bristol stool chart describes stool form in seven types. It gives you and your care team a shared vocabulary, so a diary entry can say “type 6” instead of a vague description.
What the chart is
The scale comes from researchers at the University of Bristol. Lewis and Heaton published it in 1997 as a guide to intestinal transit time. Each type is a picture and a short description, so you can point to a type instead of finding words for it.
It describes form only. It does not measure how much you passed, how often, or how you felt, and it cannot say why a stool looked the way it did.
The seven types
Types 1 and 2 are the hard, lumpy end of the scale. Types 3 to 5 are the middle. Types 6 and 7 are the loose end. The grouping below is the one Bloat Gone uses when you pick a type. Some sources place type 5 differently, so treat the boundaries as a rough guide.
| Type | Description | Usual grouping |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Separate hard lumps | Constipation range |
| 2 | Lumpy and sausage-shaped | Constipation range |
| 3 | Sausage-shaped with cracks on the surface | Typical range |
| 4 | Smooth, soft sausage or snake | Typical range |
| 5 | Soft blobs with clear edges | Typical range |
| 6 | Mushy, with ragged edges | Diarrhea range |
| 7 | Watery, no solid pieces | Diarrhea range |
One entry says little. Several days of entries show whether your usual form is steady or shifts with certain meals, stress, travel or a change in routine.
How to log it alongside food
- Pick the type that fits best. If you are between two, choose one and add a note.
- Add the time. The gap between a meal and a change in stool form is easier to see with times on both entries.
- Record the other symptoms from the same day. Bloating, gas, pain and urgency belong next to the stool type, so the diary shows the whole day.
- Include ordinary days. Entries with type 3 or 4 and no other symptoms are useful when you compare.
In Bloat Gone, you can attach a Bristol type (1 to 7, or none) to a symptom entry. The report then summarizes your entries by Bristol group. It shows what you logged, not what caused it. The printable diary has a Bristol column too.
When to talk to a clinician
A diary helps with a conversation. It cannot tell you whether a change matters. Contact a clinician if your bowel habits change and stay changed. The NHS says to seek urgent advice for unexplained weight loss, rectal bleeding or bloody diarrhoea, a hard lump or swelling in the abdomen, or breathlessness with palpitations and unusually pale skin. Do not wait for a dietitian appointment in those cases.
Bloat Gone is not a medical device and does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. Use Low FODMAP guidance with a qualified healthcare professional.
Next: what to bring to a dietitian appointment and how to look for possible food triggers.
IN THE APP
Keep your food and symptom diary on your phone
Log meals and symptoms as they happen. You can return to the dated entries or export a report for an appointment.
