Problem Pooping

BlackEyedPanda

Try cutting out meat and eggs for a while until you get your belly working again. They take ages to digest and can really clog your system.

Also, try going for a run.

apiman

Deep squat to massage your colons

maniesduchocolat

yogurt

StaceySuperfly

I have this problem from meds I take. Baked sweet potatoes are a natural laxative! Packed with anitoxidants and all kids of good stuff. Also, nuts! Eat a couple handfuls and they might do the trick. Old fashioned prune juice works great too. Don't upset your lactose intolerance, that is no fun! I take Schiff Digestive Advantage for lactose intolerance, only have to take on a day and I can drink all the milk I want with no problems! Good luck to you!

Prephred

Wait. So you're eating 1200 calories and burning 1000? YOUR BODY HAS NOTHING TO POOP OUT.

Eat 2000 calories, then you'll poop.

Way TMI - but I know my body has something to poop out because if I stick my finger up there - it's there.... :-P

Maybe an enema is the way to go

Before going to the enema try Miralax - I was on medication that always had me messed up. That was the only thing that helped and coffee if I had been off caffeine for a week or two.

emtjmac

This happened to me when I first changed my diet. I ended up taking a laxative from CVS. It was sodium based and it worked for me. After that, I didn't get constipated again.

Admiral_Derp

More food, more fat (avocado, or mineral oil), more water.

Newfiedan

It can be several problems however one that most people miss out on when it comes to proper bowel function is healthy fat intake, fat does not make you fat and is essential to proper bowel function this is why a big mac often loosens people up. A high protein intake without proper fat intake will often bung most people up as will to much fiber. A diet high in veggies and with sufficient protein and fat intake will cure most problems with bowels.

terrinae89

I suffer from IBS-C which causes constipation no matter ho much fiber I intake or water I drink. If this isn't normal for you then just wait until you see a change. If you still have a problem going you might want to see a GI doctor.

sirrah17

I am always dealing with constipation, and I know it can be so uncomfortable. A few things that work for me:

pineapple
tuna fish (don't know why)
a cheese sauce (alfredo, nacho cheese, etc.)

a cigarette (I don't smoke on a regular basis but know some folks who do. A cigarette and a cup of coffee get me going usually. When it gets that bad for me, I figure one smoke is better than the discomfort.)

Some folks will use Pedialyte, but I have never tried it.

While you're at it, take an anti-inflammatory. Seriously. It doesn't help move things along, but there will be inflammation from trying to push a square through a round hole. It's really just for your own relief.

I am not a doctor -- please consult your physician (or at least WebMD).

whitecapwendy

I skimmed through the posts so perhaps I missed it, but did noone suggest upping the water intake? Lots of fiber needs lots and lots and lots of water. I would suggest a minimum of 10 glasses of water (not fluids but water) a day when you are doing high fiber

I drink anywhere from 80-120 oz of water a day and have no problem pooping. I poop usually 2-3 times a day (we should poop after every meal not once a day)

cchamil1985

You are in serious danger here! Read this entire post, it is an article written by David Greenwalt and it explains what happens in the body when you eat too few calories.

The long and short of it is this, if you are eating 1500 calories a day and exercising 1000 back out then you are trying to operate on 500 calories a day and you body will slow it's metabolism down so much you can actually start storing fat. This is extremely dangerous and you are experiencing the first symptoms now. Read through this entire article today, I can't stress how important it is that you get your calorie intake under control, you are heading for a major crash!

Living With Obesity At 700 Calories Per Day!
By: David Greenwalt

I want you to consider a common female client. She's a woman about 5'5" and 185 pounds. A combination of a mostly sedentary lifestyle, quick-fix, processed foods and consistent excessively low calories has resulted in an incredibly stubborn fat loss scenario. Not only has it created a stubborn fat loss scenario but her ability to add body fat is remarkably strong.

Most would believe there is simply no possible way she could be 185 pounds eating mostly low calories. While it's true the average obese American created their own obesity by being a huge over consumer, a sedentary glutton if you will, many are able to maintain their level of obesity with the following formula in very precise ratios: starvation + binges + sedentary lifestyle.

An initial review of this woman's calories indicates she is just above starvation level in the 400-700 per day range. The food choices are mostly protein in this case (low-carb is all the rage you know) and there are virtually no vegetables or fruits to speak of.

Five or six days per week the calories remain low in this range, however, there are nighttime binges from time to time and weekend binges where carbs loaded with fat (doughnuts, rolls, cookies, pizza etc.) are consumed.

So while the calories are very low the majority of the time, there are one to two days per week where this isn't always the case. Even so, the nighttime binges and weekend slack offs don't amount to what you might presume would be thousands of extra calories, thus explaining the 185-pound body weight.

Very few foods are prepared from home. There are lots of fast foods being consumed. Convenience and taste rule.

I must say. Early on in my coaching and teaching career this woman was a real head scratcher for me. Isn't it calories in and calories out? Even if she's not active she's starving!

How in the heck does she stay at 185 eating an average, including all binges, of maybe 750 calories per day? She's frustrated beyond belief. She sees her friends and coworkers eating more and weighing less. Is she simply unlucky? Is everyone else blessed? And what in the world is she supposed to do to fix this, if it can be fixed?


Why Is She Not Losing Weight?
First, let me tell you why she's not losing weight. Then I'll tell you what she has to do to fix the situation. With a chronic (months and months) intake of less than 1000 calories per day and a 185-pound body weight her metabolism is suffering greatly. It's running cool, not hot. It's basically running at a snail's pace.

Think of it this way. Her metabolism has matched itself to her intake. She could, indeed, lose body fat but she's in that gray area where she is eating too few calories but not quite at the concentration-camp level yet.

If she were to consume 100-300 calories per day her body would have virtually no choice but to begin liberating stored body fat. This is NOT the solution. It's unhealthy and, in fact, quite stupid.


The Practical Way To Lose Fat!
Today's society is about speed. We no longer have to wait for the oven to warm our food because we have microwaves ready to do the work in less time. The same is not true when it comes to fat loss.

Not only has her metabolism matched her intake, her body has maximized production of enzymes that are designed to help store any additional calories as fat. Anytime additional, immediately-unnecessary calories are consumed the enzymes are there and waiting to store the additional calories as fat. Her body is starved nutritionally and it has one thing on its mind - survival.

Being mostly sedentary, her metabolism (hormones play a large role here) can do a pretty good job of keeping things slow enough so that the pathetically low calories she's consuming are just enough to maintain.

But since certain enzymes are elevated, waiting for more calories so more bodyfat can be stored, every nighttime binge or weekend mini-feast will contribute to fat stores.

So on the days she's not bingeing her body does not lose fat, or if it does, it's very little. And on the few days or times she does binge a bit her body is quite efficient at storing fat. So, while she may lose a smidge of fat from starving it is quickly replaced with every binge.

Remember, these binges aren't a gluttonous 4000-calorie feast. Oh no, a binge might be 4-5 cookies worth about 500-700 calories. Nevertheless, since the binge foods are mostly carbs and fat it's very easy for the enzymes to shuttle the dietary fat into stored body fat. It's what they were designed to do.


So, What's The Solution?
Well then, now that we presumably know some valid reasons why she's not seeing a scale change and definitely no body fat change how do we fix her? We have to do something she's going to freak out over.

We have to get her eating more. Not only do we have to get her eating more but more of the right, whole foods need to be eaten. Foods lower in fat that aren't as easily STORED as body fat have to be consumed. And we have to warn her.


A Discouraging Start
We have to warn her that since she's been sedentarily living on protein with binges of carbs and fats she is likely to see a weight gain right away. It's true.
Once we begin really feeding her body with nutritious carbohydrates so she can become more active, her glycogen-depleted body will hang on to some of those carbohydrates (in skeletal muscle and liver) so she has stored energy for activity.

When her body hangs on to those carbohydrates it has no choice but to hang on to more water too. For every gram of glycogen (stored carbs) she stores she'll hang on to three grams of water.

This is not a negative response by the body but it will be interpreted by her as quite negative when she steps on the scale.

It's quite likely she'll see a five to seven pound weight gain when she really starts eating properly again. This weight gain will remain for one to three weeks before it starts moving in the other direction.

For argument's sake let's assume my Calorie Calculator and Goal Setter at Club Lifestyle suggests a 1500-calorie per day average in week one for a one-pound loss per week. First, she is going to freak out about this many calories.

For months she's been eating less than 1000 and usually around 400-700 in one to three feedings total per day. To her 1500 calories is a ton of food. And if she even begins to eat less fast and packaged-foods it will be a ton of food.

There is no doubt whatsoever that she will resist the increase. This resistance may take one to three weeks to overcome. During this period no weight loss will occur. She is too fat already in her mind and believes it will only hurt her to increase her food intake.

I mean, after all, isn't that how she got fat to begin with? In her early stages of fat gain this was probably true. She overconsumed. But as I've said already, that's not why she's staying heavy.

In addition to a freaked-out mindset about adding more food to her already overfat body she will simply find that it's all but impossible to eat four or more times per day.

She's just not hungry at first. Makes sense when you think about it. Why would she be hungry three hours after eating a 300-calorie, balanced breakfast? Her body is used to 400-700 calories per day!

So, even though she gets a plan and begins using my nutrition analyzer to log foods and meals she finds after having a balanced breakfast of 250 calories she couldn't force herself to eat meal number two on time.

It'll take several more days of realizing what is going on and being one-hundred percent honest and diligent with her logging and planning before she begins to eat her meals as planned no matter what - even if she's not hungry.

By now two to four weeks have passed and the only thing she's seen on the scale is it going up--not very encouraging if I say so myself.


Raising The Grade
After the first two to four weeks have passed she's probably beginning to consume her meals as planned although not quite like an "A" student yet. That is coming. She feels better because she's working out and is more active.
And she feels like she has more energy throughout the day because she's feeding her body more calories and the right kinds of calories.

She has finally begun eating the right kinds of fast foods (low in fat, moderate in protein) and less packaged food overall. She is making more meals from home and taking them to work for lunch rather than always grabbing something quick from a vending machine or the break room that always has some treat another employee brought in.

After another two weeks or so she's moved from a "B" grade to more consistent "A"s. She's planning her days one day ahead in the Nutrition Analyzer; she's consuming fresh veggies and fruits on a daily basis.

Her calories are almost ALWAYS in line with what is recommended by my Lean Account and she has seen her first signs of the scale moving in the right direction.

She is now dropping from 190 pounds (her high after reintroducing food and carbohydrates again) to 189.3! "Progress at last!" she says. In actuality, the entire process was progress. But that's not how she saw it in the beginning.

With a total of two to four weeks of increased caloric intake behind her and eating more consistently the right kinds of foods her metabolism has truly begun to rebound.

She didn't kill it as she thought. She only wounded it. And since our metabolisms are like kids (they are quite resilient) and she doesn't have thyroid issues or diabetes or any known wrench that could be thrown into the spokes of fat loss, she will begin, for the first time in months or years, to see results that make sense and that one would expect of someone who is active (30-60 minutes five or more days per week) and consuming a caloric intake of 1300-1500 calories per day.


Butterfly Effect: The Basics Of The Thyroid - Part 1.
Avoiding Sabotage
This process is in no way easy. I think you can see a plethora of ways it could be screwed up, sabotaged, given up on too early and so forth.
A key to success for this very common woman (men too) is not giving up too soon, having faith in the fix, and moving sooner rather than later to the increased, quality food intake.

It's going to take effort to overcome the mental hurdles of eating more food as well as the increase in scale weight that is going to occur in weeks one to three or so. It's disheartening, however, to charge hard down the weight-loss field only to get to the one-yard line and decide it's time to quit.


Don't Let Your Metabolism Fall.
These are the top ten ways you can boost your metabolism and keep it high - even through Fall.

Many don't realize they only had one more yard to go and they'd have had a touchdown. You gotta hang in there with this plan. It's going to take some time for the glycogen levels to be replenished and level out. It's going to take some time for mental adjustments to occur.
It's going to take some time before hunger signals are restored to anything close to normal. It's going to take time for the metabolism to rebound and not be in its protective mode.


Giving A Stubborn Body The Message
In certain, very stubborn cases, it may be necessary to eat at a eucaloric (maintenance) or hypercaloric (over maintenance) level for a few weeks to ensure the metabolism does get the signal that everything is alright and you aren't going to kill the body.

Remember, your body could care less about your desire for fat loss. It just wants to survive.


Some Take-Home Points

The most common cause of obesity is Americans are sedentary overeaters/drinkers. Nothing in this article should be construed as to say that under eating is the root cause of obesity. It's not.

It IS common for many men and women to be under eating with sporadic binges as I described here. This creates a perfect environment for continued obesity even if total caloric intake is quite low on average.

Low-carb followers or "starvers" WILL see the scale go up when calories are consumed at reasonable levels again and carbohydrates are reintroduced. Live with it. Deal with it. It's going to happen. 98% of the gain will be water.

The time it takes for mental acceptance and other adjustments to occur will vary but one should expect a two to four week window for these things to take place. Being forewarned with an article like this may speed this process up some.

Once the right types of foods are consumed and the right caloric intake is consumed and the right ratios of carbohydrates, proteins and fats are consumed on a consistent basis, then, and only then, will metabolism begin to be restored and the key to fat loss be inserted into the lock with a noticeable drop in the scale resulting.
This may take an additional two to four weeks to occur. Your metabolism is never dead or broken for good. But it may take several weeks of proper eating and activity for it to be restored.

From day one, until the first, noticeable drop in the scale occurs may be four to six weeks--maybe one to two weeks longer. Those who give up on the one-yard line will never see the scale drop as will occur when intelligent persistence and consistency over time are adhered to.

healthygreek

Never have a problem with:

4 oz prune juice
4 cups green veggie-like broccoli, spinach, kale etc with 1 tbs olive oil
400 mg of magnesium citrate (capsules)
Lots and lots of water

Daily

Mrs_Bones

You need to eat more. Your if you're only eating 1200-1500 per day and burning up to 1000, your body basically craps out (haha) on you. Seriously, a lot of people notice when increasing their calories than their bowel movements become more frequent. Other than that, everyone else already said high water, high fibre. Go for the enema if it holds out any longer. Not pleasant, but being constipated for that long can have pretty negative consequences.

Rocknut53

Try Smooth Move by Traditional Medicines. It is a tea and it definitely gets your poop going.

Personal experience

^This^

servilia

Yeah at this point I'd recommend a laxative tea. I'm usually not into them but 1 week is overkill.

zyxst

What the -

YOU HAVEN'T POOPED IN A WEEK?!?!?! :noway:

Seriously? Honestly? How often is it between poops that ONE WEEK is when you start getting concerned? :huh:

I'm not a daily pooper, but if I haven't gone in 2 days, I get worried. I had fecel impaction 10 days ago and broke down to drink milk of magnesia after suffering for about 20 hours. It took 34 mins between me drinking my shooter of MoM and my colon clearing out.

I second/third/fourth what has been said about you not eating enough. 5 days of 1000 calorie exercise burns + your BMR is moderately active. Take better care of yourself and sorry for the mom rant.

moodyshannon15

Lots of water and prunes several times a week

Mimoki

mixed prune juice with milk of magnesia. Works everytime. Taste horrendous though, but it will definately give you movement. Nurses and docs "prescribe" this often to those that have these troubles.

bregalad5

If I'm struggling I'll eat a big bowl of fruit (they have these fruit bowls at the grocery store: blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries). Within a couple hours I'm no longer struggling

cchamil1985

Once you finish that one read through this one

The Under Eating & Under Exercising Trap
By: Vanessa De Ascencao

A large calorie deficit and too much exercise can actual hinder weight loss, not improve it.

Is your diet the key to burning body fat or is exercise the answer? Well, by dieting as if you aren’t going to exercise will go a long way to creating a lean physique.

I recently came across an interesting article in Time magazine about diet and exercise. It was entitled:”Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin“. To sum up the article without going into too much detail, it’s easier to create a large calorie deficit through your diet than by exercising. And that, at the end of the day, is what losing weight is all about.

A calorie deficit is created when your body burns more calories than you consume each day. To lose 1kg of fat per week, for instance, you need to create a daily calorie deficit of 1,000 calories (2lb or 0.9kg of fat contains 7,000 calories). So the question is, would you rather exercise for two hours or just not eat those calories in the first place?

To create a 1,000 calorie deficit through exercise alone is difficult, as you would have to do moderate to high intensity cardio for close to two hours, which can be brutal if you try and do this everyday! A better suggestion would be to eliminate 500-700 calories from your diet and burn the remainder through exercise.

Take this as an example: A big muffin contains 400 calories. Do you realise how much exercising it takes to burn those calories? Well, about an hour on the step machine at a moderate pace would do the trick! So, by relying on exercise alone you would only be back to square one after an hour of cardio. You probably won’t lose weight at all by doing this, especially if you added a full cream milk latte to the mix or a fat free frappe, which is considered by most to be a skinny meal.

Diet is more important than many people realise
If you are eating excessive amounts of calories then a large part of your time spent in the gym is a waste if your goal is to lose weight. Your diet is key to getting into great shape as it lays the platform for optimal weight loss. The ones who don’t realise this are the ones you see at the gym, week in and week out, doing intense exercise with little or no result.

Another mistake people often make at gym is that they copy the workout routine of a person who is in great shape. The real reason that person is in great shape is because of their strict diet. True weight loss happens outside the gym when you eat well.

To get a true indication of what your daily calorie consumption should be you can use this general formula as a starting point. Take your body weight (in pounds) and multiply it by 12. For example, a woman who weighs 150lb (68kg) would need around 1,800 calories per day. Then, based on the results, you can make adjustments as required. The average person should aim to lose 1-2 pounds (0.5 to 1kg) a week.

Where the wheels can come off
Having worked out this equation, many people often try to accelerate weight and fat loss by increasing the amount of time they spend in the gym, while reducing their daily calorie intake even further. However, there are some interesting hormonal issues that arise when people under-eat and over-exercise, which I’ve seen and personally experienced over the years, whereby a combination of a large deficits and large amounts of activity can slow or completely stall fat loss.

We have all heard about the stress hormone cortisol, which is released by the body in response to all kinds of stress. In the fitness and weight loss world cortisol has had an almost exclusively negative stigma attached to it, but the truth is it does play an important role. For example, the morning cortisol pulse actually helps to promote fat mobilisation, while in contrast, chronic elevations, especially in the face of high insulin levels, tend to promote visceral fat accumulation.

Both exercising and dieting can generally be considered a stressor, which can lead to an increase in cortisol production, and the more extreme you go with each discipline the greater the stress imposed.

When you are doing both of these activities in extremes on a daily basis your cortisol levels go through the roof. Chronic cortisol elevations can cause many issues, such as water retention and leptin resistance in the brain.

When the normal leptin signal to the brain is blocked a lot of things can go wrong metabolically.

A perfect example is when an avid gym-goer, who doesn’t miss a day of cardio and follows a strict calorie controlled diet goes on holiday. This is often accompanied by feelings of anxiety about where to find a healthy meal, how to eat well five times a day and where she will find a suitable place to train.

However, this type of person will, more often than not, come back two weeks later looking amazing – lighter and leaner than when they left. It happens all the time and it has to do with a reduction in these stressors and the positive effects it can have on your body. The point is that if we are willing to take more time and find the correct balance with our dieting and training the results would be much better.

The other issue with excessive exercise is the fact that we tend to crave more food after a heavy cardio or weight training session. If we give in to these cravings then we simply undo all the hard work done in the gym by allowing our calorie intake to exceed our expenditure. This is a major reason why a large percentage of people who work hard in the gym get stuck at the same weight for long periods of time.

Many people also like to reward themselves after a good workout. They reason that since they have had a tough workout they can ‘get away’ with eating more. Other people will exercise more to make up for eating too much. But this just perpetuates the ‘more with more’ mentality, which is a big mistake. Don’t fall into this trap as it never pays to eat more if you want to lose fat!

You can lose weight without exercise

To be honest, if you were on a strict diet you could get lean without the need for exercise, but you would lose out on the toned and shapely physique, and wouldn’t enjoy the benefits of increased health and vitality achieved through regular cardio and resistance training.

However, the challenge with exercising is actually getting to do it regularly enough to create that daily deficit, as there isn’t always time in our hectic schedules.

My suggestion would therefore be to keep your diet in check at all times, and exercise as often as time and life allows. But if you have your diet right you need not spend endless hours on a treadmill, unless you’re specifically training for an event or want to get some ‘compensation’ cardio in before a night out or a long awaited treat.

At the end of the day the equation is a simple one – just keep creating that deficit with your diet, but don’t go to extremes. If you do you’ll quickly find that you lack the motivation to work out, you’ll be tired, grumpy, irritable and, worst of all, you wont achieve the results you want.

By combining this calorie restricted diet with adequate sleep and some exercise that you enjoy doing will yield the best results. I personally love being active, being outdoors and building up a good sweat, which makes the exercise component easier. But I would say that 80-90% of your results in terms of weight loss comes from your diet. Even your health and energy levels will deteriorate if you are not eating properly, and you will never out-exercise a bad diet!

Hopefully you understand now why it is so important to eat back your exercise calories. Get back on a good diet and your body will regulate itself and you will become "regular" again. Your body is holding on to what it has now because it thinks it is starving.

fayeonherway

Go vegan, you'll be pooping 2 times per day

I'm not vegan and I always have two healthy poops a day. Fiber has always been my friend plus water. IMO prunes are your best friends when going through what the OP has described. If not please seek medical help. I cannot imagine not being able to poop.

nannyal

Dried fruit, or an orange before bedtime.:explode:

Lola_Rogers

dried fruits and fibers are good but they hold water so you should drink more water when you eat prunes and stuff.
try senna tea. just one cup will be more than enough. i have the same problem. or eat low cal chocolate ice cream and then drink green tea.. sounds stupid but always works for me

ElaineRN100

We treat our pt's who come to the ER with this condition with OTC Miralax. Gentle laxative - take as directed. You need to get cleaned out first then concentrate on staying that way. As others have said - drink plenty of water and you made need to take a daily stool softener. Since we have all reduced fat content, we sometimes need a little help to get all that extra fiber out. Hope this helps..

SanteMulberry

Drink more water! That is the first step to trying to solve those type of issues. It doesn't always work but you have to try drinking more water first before taking more drastic (medication) steps.

Good luck.

I drink on average 8 - 10 glasses of water a day. This is so weird for me I have no idea. Normally I have the opposite problem.

Yeah--I'm thinking that it is more than just simple constipation since you do everything right (drinking water, lots of fiber, etc.) I would get my thyroid levels checked as that is the most likely explanation. Unfortunately, dieting seems to knock down the metabolism because it causes a loss of lean tissue in the body. The way to counteract that is to eat more and especially to lift weights to jack up your metabolism 24-7. Cardio is great for a number of reasons but cardio and dieting can set you up for metabolic problems unless you do some heavy lifting. If you are doing some heavy lifting and still have problems, you will need to see an endocrinologist to determine if you have some other reason for poor thyroid performance (such as a lack of iodine, iron, magnesium---essential for converting T-4 to T-3 etc.). Good luck!

shayemimi

I know for me, it's when I concentrate on eating so healthy, that I don't get enough fat. If your drinking water and eating plenty of fiber and veggies, it's probably not enough fat. Don't go crazy with it... just start using full fat dressing, a little olive oil etc. when you cook and you'll notice a big difference. Also, a little pizza once in a while doesn't hurt either, or what ever gets you moving. For me it's a restaurant breakfast (bacon,eggs, hash browns) lol. Sends me running to the potty every time.

Lola_Rogers

We treat our pt's who come to the ER with this condition with OTC Miralax. Gentle laxative - take as directed. You need to get cleaned out first then concentrate on staying that way. As others have said - drink plenty of water and you made need to take a daily stool softener. Since we have all reduced fat content, we sometimes need a little help to get all that extra fiber out. Hope this helps..

OTC Miralax - is it for long term use?

SanteMulberry

I know for me, it's when I concentrate on eating so healthy, that I don't get enough fat. If your drinking water and eating plenty of fiber and veggies, it's probably not enough fat. Don't go crazy with it... just start using full fat dressing, a little olive oil etc. when you cook and you'll notice a big difference. Also, a little pizza once in a while doesn't hurt either, or what ever gets you moving. For me it's a restaurant breakfast (bacon,eggs, hash browns) lol. Sends me running to the potty every time.

^^^THIS^^^ You can do a lot of damage to your body by going low carb AND low fat/high protein. You must either do lower carb OR lower fat---not both. I know a girl who did very low carb and very low fat--she existed mostly on protein powder, and vegetables. Lost a lot of weight but got very sick (and then gained it all back plus more). Most people I have talked to who experience problems on lower carb diets (and I DO NOT advise going below 60 grams a day for extended periods of time) is because they also try to go low fat at the same time. The reason why they speak of "essential fatty acids" is that they are just that, ESSENTIAL.

GlitterMamma11

Any luck?