Fiber motivation... and my embarrassing moment when I didn't get enough of it

Anyone out there struggling to get the right amount of fiber/day?  Do you snub brown rice?  Turn up your nose at whole-grain breads?  Do you laugh in the face of whole-wheat bagels?  STOP DOING THIS!  I think my humiliating story (and it is funny as well) will start encouraging everyone out there to get at least 25 g of fiber/day. 

So, if you didn't already know this.  Your poop should come out easily, be moderately soft (not loose, like with diarrea), and form a C or S shape.  I know that if I get about 30g of fiber a day and stay hydrated with 100+ g of water/day, I poop like a champion.  Dr. Oz (from Oprah) would be proud of my BMs.  Dr. Oz approved poop goes down the toilet with no problems.

Well, the last week was hectic so I didn't mark calories each day which meant I didn't check my daily fiber amounts.  Sunday AM I woke up knowing I had to make a BM.  I sat on the toilet, nothing came out.  I showered, dressed, ate and tried again.  Still nothing.  Finally, I realized I was going to have to leave for my friend's party and just do my business when my body was ready to comply.

I hadn't been at the party 30 minutes, when the strong urge came on.  I got up and headed for THE ONLY BATHROOM AT THE HOUSE.  It's a tiny house and the bathroom is 2 feet from the living room and 3 feet from the kitchen where most everyone was due to a rainstorm outside.  I was mid-business when someone knocked on the door.  I assured them I'd only be another moment.  After a minute or two of grunting, I pushed out a huge, painful, solid rock of poo.  I quickly wiped and flushed, anxious to turn over the bathroom to whoever was waiting. 

While washing my hands, I glanced over.  It hadn't flushed.  Not being a timid or incapable female, I grabbed the plunger and went at it.  After clearing the blockage (or so I thought), I flushed again.  The next thing I knew, I was standing in 1/4 inch of water.  My husband was in the garage helping grill and I didn't want to open the door and (a) let the flood into the living room or (b) let everyone know what I'd done.  I sent my husband a frantic text: In bathroom and it's flooding.  Clogged toilet.  Need help.  Hurry!  Don't want everyone to know. 

My husband raced in, took one look and went to get a mop.  He came in and started mopping and plunging.  There's only room for one person in this bathroom so he told me to go back to the party and he'd handle it.  Ten or 15 minutes later he emerged... and came back with another friend.  Twenty minutes later, they went and got a snake... which broke off in the toilet.  The next thing I knew, the 2 of them were going home to get extra tools/supplies. 

In the end, my husband and his buddy had to take the stool outside (mid-party, mind you), don gloves, and hand remove clogged poo from the toilet.  We don't know if all of it was mine or not but my under-fibered BM definitely was a major part of the cause.  We were also toilet-less for 2+ hours at a house full of about 30 people.

By the time the party was over, my husband had calmed down considerably.  He did make me promise that if I ever had to go #2 and there was only one bathroom where we were, I needed to hold it or make an excuse to run home (we live less than 5 minutes away from most of our friends).  I readily agreed due to my profound embarrassment.  My husband did remain discreet and I think only one or two people know that I was in there when the toilet clogged.  I am still embarrassed whenever I think about it.

If this doesn't motivate you to eat your fiber, I don't know what else will. 

OH NO!!!  That's horrible!  That's like my worst nightmare!

When I had my housewarming party for my brand new house, something similar happened.  I was mortified that the toilet clogged on one of my guests.  Later, when we finally got the plumber out, it turned out that someone had flushed wads and wads of paper towels (I'm guessing it was the construction crew, rather than my party guests) that had clogged it all the way down the line.

For these reasons, I HATE pooing anywhere unfamiliar.  Work is ok, since I know their toilets... but anywhere else I will hold it at all costs (and yes, I know that's not good for you, but I don't care).

Sorry you had to endure that, but thanks for sharing your story.  :)

While I was reading that post I thought of all the movies with that kind of scenes. I'm sorry that happened to you, and I hope u will be able to laugh at this in the future, becuase it is a bit funny. Hope ur feeling better and not so embarrased about his anymore, because it could really happen to anyone. 

Thanks for sharing that with us.

I was only embarrassed in front of friends (some of whom I know better than others) when it happened and not too embarrassed to share my shame with CC.  I'm totally over it.  Plus, since my embarrassing situation was totally caused by bad dietary choices, I thought it made the story even more suitable for here.

thanks for sharing this personal moment, but it's a valuable lesson. This website really helps on keeping tabs on our daily fiber intake. I drink herbal tea that has organic senna leaf to promote my movements and I love the allbran with strawberries inside the bites.

People on here sometimes tend to lecture about fiber, protein, exercise, etc.  I thought this was a fun way to get the message across to everyone about fiber (hence the reason I posted it in the motivational forum).  Eat your fiber, or THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

my reply was not intented as a lecture but a thank you to your post and to share with others not lecture them.

Original Post by jgirl27:

my reply was not intented as a lecture but a thank you to your post and to share with others not lecture them.

I didn't meant to imply you were lecturing.  Sorry if it came across that way.

I thought your story was funny!  But rest assured (no pun intended) you DID NOT CAUSE your friends plumbing problems.  That kind of a situation has been brewing for a while.  Your fiasco was just what set it off. :)

Having spend a few thou on plumbing I think I have enough expertise to be certain of my comments  lol