The Story

Who is Josh Stiffler?

Athlete. Developer. Wellness Communicator. Pizza Lover.

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Josh crossing the half marathon finish line

Nearly 3.5 years after back surgery, completed my second half marathon.

Yes, I track my pizza too.

Trail hiking between training days.

Lakeside vibes between training days.

Race day with the crew.

I grew up as the kid who played every sport possible. Football, basketball, soccer. If it had a ball and a scoreboard, I was in it.

But somewhere along the way, I gained weight, lost my confidence, and leaned on food for comfort. Pizza especially. (Still do, honestly. But now I at least know what it's doing to me.)

Then came the back injury. The one that took me out of the sports I loved and left me as the "broken back guy." Doctors said it wasn't going to change. My environment reinforced it. And for a while, I believed them.

For nearly two years I lived in pain. Overweight, injured, and stuck. Good times.

While dealing with all that, I got into IT and tech. My body was done but my brain still needed something, so I started building things, learning development, solving problems. Turned into a career. I was good at it. But it wasn't what I was meant to do forever.

Eventually I chose back surgery. To prepare, I started losing weight, figured it'd make recovery easier. But something unexpected happened: my back started to feel better. Life started to feel better. For the first time, I realized my health was actually in my hands.

That realization changed everything. Went from barely walking to running a half marathon. Turns out your body listens when you stop ignoring it.

I've been a fitness tracking app user for years. Calorie counters, macro apps, barcode scanners, you name it. They were useful, but they all stopped at the same place: logging. None of them ever told me why a meal was working for me, or wasn't. They counted. They didn't explain.

I built Relffits (and @stiffhealth) out of that whole journey, as someone who's lived inside these apps, knew where they fell short, and wanted them to actually mean something. Took the dev skills I picked up while I was injured and used them to build the tool I wished I'd had: one that helps you see how what you're eating is moving your goals.

And once I realized I could come back from all of that, I knew I wanted to help other people do the same thing. Not just through an app. In person. That's why I'm headed to chiropractic school. The tech and the health stuff aren't separate things for me. They came from the same place.

Nobody should feel like they don't have a choice with their health.

If my story connects with you, stick around. We're just getting started.

Follow the journey