Stephen Richnafsky

He turned his health and his life around for the sake of not only himself, but his family, too.

Written By Jim Stoppani, PhD

Updated September 28, 2023

Written by Stephen Richnafsky

I wanted and needed to make a change in my life. Not just for myself, but for my wife and children, too.

I always wanted to be in shape and ripped. I was in really bad health — my extremely high blood pressure was due to bad eating and I gained a lot of weight from medications.

In the end, I had to get one of my kidneys removed. I was so sick of taking medications for all my medical issues and I needed to make a change.

In the beginning, I didn’t keep any records of my measurements. I remember my weight was over 240 pounds and my waist was 41 inches.

My last measurements, at the end of Super-Man Remastered Challenge, were 154 pounds and 3.7 percent body fat. I was so happy I got to this point of my transformation over the course of 2 1/2 years.

To achieve my personal goals and get results, I used Dr. Jim Stoppani's programs. I began with Shortcut to Shred, then Shortcut to Strength, on Bodybuilding.com. After those two workout programs, I found JimStoppani.com and signed up to participate in other workout programs.

I entered my first challenge — Super-Man Remastered — and saw results like never before. Then, I entered ALL of the other challenges from that point.

I participated in other workout programs such as Six Weeks to Sick Arms, Oxford Drop Sets, 4-Week Full-Body Burn, Full-Body Tabatas, Super Shredded 8, Undulating Mass, Tabata Builder, Ripped in 6, Giant Program, and Down and Up Mass Full-Split.

My nutritional plan consisted of other bodybuilder’s programs, but I didn’t see much change with it. I read articles on JimStoppani.com about dieting, meal planning layouts, carb cycling, and intermittent fasting. I planned out my own schedule and tracked all my macros.

At first, it was difficult, but over time I learned what worked for my body and I developed discipline. This is when I saw the real magic happening. My body continued to change and develop and I kept moving forward. My family saw a huge difference and supported me so much.

For my dietary supplements, I purchased ones based on the recommendations of GNC employees. I didn’t know anything about proteins and proprietary blends.

Then I read articles on Jim's website and I tried JYM products. I immediately saw a big difference and my weight loss began.

Currently, I take everything that is on the market for JYM and ONLY JYM products.

My biggest motivation is wanting to improve my overall fitness, health, and life for my family. My health was in serious jeopardy. I had to make a change or I was going to die.

I slowly started to make the change, but once I had a good result from Shortcut to Shred, I kept on making more and more personal goals.

My major lifestyle change was to lose weight and not be dependent on prescription medications that caused me to have so many side effects, such as weight gain, water retention, and organ issues.

I began to cut ALL sugars and processed foods from my meals. That meant no more eating out, soda pop, candy, and junk foods in general, and only eating lean and clean.

It was difficult for the first month, and at times, I would fall off the wagon, but I would keep pushing myself forward. Afterward, I was able to continue and I implemented intermittent fasting and then carb cycling.

The biggest keys to my success were JimStoppani.com articles. All I did was read Jim's articles on his website and checked out the links that backed up the articles.

I believe the toughest obstacle I had to overcome was dieting and eating healthy. It was a struggle, but over time, with proper education, nutrition, and discipline, I learned to overcome it.

The feedback I received from my family, friends, and acquaintances on my transformation has been amazing and supportive. Even my physicians I used to see for my health issues were speechless.

I have many people all the time at the gym asking me for advice on workout programs. They want me to teach them about new movements to improve and nutritional supplements. I tell them about Dr. Jim Stoppani and his workout programs and supplements.

The advice I would give to others is that, at times, working out and dieting can be hard and overwhelming. You need to just take one day at a time.And if you make a mistake or fall from you program, learn from it and don’t beat yourself up. Remember to focus on reaching your goals, stay positive, and continue to work on your goals.

Trust me, once you reach your fitness goals, it’s an amazing feeling and you will want to make bigger goals.

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