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Rachel, a 25-year-old strategy analyst and TikToker in New York City, works out six to seven times a week. That’s on top of her 9-to-5 job at a tech company, her TikTok side hustle, and socializing.
In total, she spends about 15% of her monthly take-home income on health and fitness.
“It is the largest sector I spend money on each month that is not a necessity,” she told Business Insider.
Rachel, who didn’t want to share her last name for privacy reasons, said she first got into fitness while working in finance. She has 74,700 followers on TikTok, where she posts under the username @RachelInARealWay.
“I really started to get into working out when I was in finance so that I could point to something I did that was for myself every single day,” she said. In a job that took up most of her day, looking after her health was something her seniors had to respect, she said.
She started working out in her office’s gym four times a week, running on the treadmill or doing Peloton workouts on an exercise bike.
RachelInARealWay
She made six figures in that role, but left in February 2024 to take a lower-paying job that she enjoys more. The new job is “actually 9-to-5,” she said. She uses some of her newfound free time to exercise.
She ran a half-marathon in the spring of 2024 and has since moved on to fitness classes, which she does six or seven times a week.
“I don’t really have a fitness goal. I just think that when I work out, I’m a much happier person. It makes me feel like I’ve already done something for myself that day,” she said.
Rachel also films content, like during fitness classes or while holding a plank.
“A workout used to just be a workout, but it’s now a workout plus a way to create content for TikTok, which then gets me opportunities to go and do cool things,” she said. “It’s truly crazy.”
She shared what she spends on staying fit each month with Business Insider for this installment of Fitness Money Diaries.
Fitness classes
From the summer of 2023 to January 2025, Rachel used ClassPass, a subscription service that where users buy credits to pay for sessions in a variety of gyms and fitness studios. She spent between $27 and $90 a month on the subscription, depending on how many classes she took.
Now, she has chosen to commit to one Pilates studio and pays $250 a month for unlimited classes there. The studio offers Pilates, yoga, and “sculpt” classes, all in heated rooms.
“There were many many days this week alone where the $20 cancellation fee on the Pilates class was quite literally the only thing that got me out of bed in the morning,” she said.
She runs, too, which is free. “I really don’t believe in paying for a workout that you could do on your own,” she said.
She also does the odd fitness class with her friends as a social event at places other than her Pilates studio, which tends to cost between $30 and $40.
Monthly total: $250 or more
RachelInARealWay
Ice bath membership
Rachel also has a monthly membership to a sauna studio, where she takes ice baths three or four times a week. It costs $190 for unlimited monthly visits.
Ice baths can help ease muscle soreness and help recovery after exercise.
Monthly total: $190
Clothes
“A large part of why I started posting on TikTok was because I would just see people getting free workout clothes, deodorant, crazy things for free on TikTok,” she said.
Rachel said brands now send her gym wear and sneakers for free, so she no longer has to buy them for herself.
Monthly total: $0
Smoothies
Rachel doesn’t see the $13 smoothies she drinks as integral to her health, but she buys them four times a week because she loves them.
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Monthly total: $208
