Welcome to the 2026 International Fat Bastard Competition!

[zacca]

10 hours ago, Hoosh said:

It has been figured out… pharmaceutical companies are collectively the devil and the doctors that prescribe their medicines are the minions.

That’s a dramatic take. Most people are happy to denounce pharma in the abstract…right up until they need antibiotics, anesthesia, or cancer treatment. 

The Steve Jobs route doesn’t really work. Medicine is messy, regulated, and imperfect, and dismissing it entirely is easier than understanding it. 

The loudest critics tend to speak in slogans, not specifics, which is easy to do when you’ve never been in the arena.

[Li Bai]

17 hours ago, zacca said:

That’s a dramatic take. Most people are happy to denounce pharma in the abstract…right up until they need antibiotics, anesthesia, or cancer treatment.

The Steve Jobs route doesn’t really work. Medicine is messy, regulated, and imperfect, and dismissing it entirely is easier than understanding it. 

The loudest critics tend to speak in slogans, not specifics, which is easy to do when you’ve never been in the arena.

Agreed 100%

It's a very sensitive topic, modern drugs and modern medicine are phenomenal tools but one cannot deny that there's too much money at stake to blindly trust the industry.

I'm a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and a big part of the job is to bring people back to their physicians (all the more since COVID) in order to work together, not against them. Even in China my teachers were all both TCM and Medicine doctors. 

[ha_banos]

On 1/16/2026 at 6:25 AM, Li Bai said:

Statins have been proven to be useless for more than a decade and cholesterol levels are now known to be irrelevant and yet, millions of people still take those on a daily basis, go figure it out...

Familial high cholesterol level here too 🤝

But there's LDL-C that's the, I believe, scientifically backed problem. So when we talk about cholesterol problems it's the cholesterol carried by ldl particles that causes problems. Still reading around the ApoB test to give an actual particle count of LDL, VLDL, and IDL. A high density of these is what causes build up apparently ... Then there's lp(a)... Statins of no use against some combination of these, and have side effects. Otherwise if it's a genetic reason the other drugs. 

I'm no doctor!

[Li Bai]

13 hours ago, ha_banos said:

But there's LDL-C that's the, I believe, scientifically backed problem. So when we talk about cholesterol problems it's the cholesterol carried by ldl particles that causes problems. Still reading around the ApoB test to give an actual particle count of LDL, VLDL, and IDL. A high density of these is what causes build up apparently ... Then there's lp(a)... Statins of no use against some combination of these, and have side effects. Otherwise if it's a genetic reason the other drugs. 

I'm no doctor!

I'm no doctor either, one could dig and find studies going both ways about ldl-c so there's no clear answer to that problem.

High ldl levels seem to be protective to elderly people in regard to some cancers and other pathologies so...my post was just meant to point out that there's no certainty when it comes to science, that's the whole point of it 👍

Feel free to DM me if you want to dig deeper, I don't want to hijack the thread. 😉

[Ruggerpgh99]

On 1/16/2026 at 4:57 AM, ha_banos said:

Rugby playing weight...

I played 9, not tight head prop. Now, I played 9 at 195-205, which is large for a 9 anywhere. Regardless, that is an impressive transformation. 

[chasy]

Agreed on benefits of medicine and the dangers that have emerged due to the profitability of it. Would be so good for humanity if we could regain some trust here. I've had my own dubious experience with pharmaceuticals, prescribing doctors, etc. Doesn't mean I don't believe in the power of medicine, but I also had to take matter into my hands more than once.

[Hoosh]

15 hours ago, zacca said:

That’s a dramatic take. Most people are happy to denounce pharma in the abstract…right up until they need antibiotics, anesthesia, or cancer treatment. 

The Steve Jobs route doesn’t really work. Medicine is messy, regulated, and imperfect, and dismissing it entirely is easier than understanding it. 

The loudest critics tend to speak in slogans, not specifics, which is easy to do when you’ve never been in the arena.

I’ve edited my post, but just want it to be known that I’m not denouncing pharma “in the abstract” and that I’m keenly aware of the “arena” of which you speak.

[joeypots]

21 hours ago, Li Bai said:

I'm no doctor either, one could dig and find studies going both ways about ldl-c so there's no clear answer to that problem.

We can dig up studies that say that the Covid vaccines killed more people than the virus. What we can find and what the best studies, interpreted by people with the education to understand them, are two different things. The only way I've been able to remain faithful the the medical industrial complex, and I'm close to Boston, (a significant research center) has been to accept that modern medicine endeavors to do the best for the most. The reliance on statistics in the field pushes a practitioner to provide the treatment that has been statistically shown to be  best for most. Lots of MDs ard researchers around my town in the summer. If I hear one more say, "there is no research to support that idea."...Couple the statistical analysis with insurance controlled appointment times and it's easy to see why people hate the medical industrial complex. Very easy. My buddy, who hates MDs and big pharma, thinks they are all corrupt, money grubbing, condescending crooks and wouldn't piss on a one of them if they were on fire, was pretty happy when they removed the kidney stone in his gut last year. 

[ha_banos]

And those of you who don't drink alcohol and are fat have no excuses! It sounds easy to lose fat without drinking! Liver's always on fat burning mode!

[ElLoboLoco]

5 minutes ago, ha_banos said:

And those of you who don't drink alcohol and are fat have no excuses! It sounds easy to lose fat without drinking! Liver's always on fat burning mode!

Screw them dry fatties. 🤣

[Greenhorn2]

Shouldn't this competition be about who can gain the most weight? That would be the real fat bastid competition, one that I might stand a chance of winning. 

[El Presidente]

One week to go! 

Eat up 

 

1. Register in the week Monday 26th of January and  Friday  the 30th of January on this thread

[Chas.Alpha]

🐖🐖🐖 I’m in… 🐖🐖🐖

[Ford2112]

I am down to 209 lbs (94.8 kg for you worldly lot). My new bike will be built by the competition. I need to take my health to the next level. Arnold Swarzenegger says he will be my personal trainer.

[El Presidente]

1 hour ago, Ford2112 said:

 I need to take my health to the next level. Arnold Swarzenegger says he will be my personal trainer.

[ha_banos]

1 hour ago, Ford2112 said:

I am down to 209 lbs (94.8 kg for you worldly lot). My new bike will be built by the competition. I need to take my health to the next level. Arnold Swarzenegger says he will be my personal trainer.

I've got one of these tees. 

[Ken Gargett]

On 1/14/2026 at 8:47 AM, El Presidente said:

LDL under 2. 

Familial high Cholestoral and no matter if I only ate lettuce it would be 5+ 

I can't take statins as they triggered constant muscle cramping. 

Have taken Ezitimibe for a couple of years. Not a statin but a different class of cholesterol lowering medications/cholesterol absorption inhibitors.

Worked for me. No side effects. Check with your Cardio/Doc 

years ago, i used to be excellent for blood pressure and cholesterol. then the life style stuffed the cholesterol. was at 8 for a while. a new and excellent doctor did a full examination and investigation into the lifestyle (i go fishing in Cuba once a year with my mates and drink too much and smoke way too many cigars. do you enjoy it? yes. then don't stop). when it came to the cholesterol, i was given a choice. a complete lifestyle renovation or a little pill (crestor) once a day. pill it is. been lucky that i have never had any side effects. within six weeks, i was under 4. been 3 to 4 ever since, as far as i am aware. 

the doc also asked me if i took any vitamins, supplements etc. vitamin B, milk thistle etc. he suggested i gather them all up and dump them in the bin and use the money to buy better red wine. loved that Doc!

as for weight loss, lord it gets harder and harder as you get older. realised in August 24 when i got back from a fishing trip that i was ridiculously overweight. currently 18 kilos down from that. hard work. i really thought that i would have lost more. aim is down 25 by the same trip this year.