I Tried the First-Ever Health and Wellness Credit Card—And Got Rewards Just for Doing My Usual Well-Being Routine

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Over the past couple of months, my normal yoga and meal-prepping routines had taken a turn for the couch-plus-takeout. I knew I needed something to kickstart me back into my usual healthy-ish rhythm, but my go-to motivational methods—mirror pep talks, visualization, and writing in my planner—weren't doing the trick.
What finally worked, you ask? Finding out about a way I could literally get rewarded just for buying groceries and going to yoga class—and it is now my new favorite form of healthy-living accountability.
Let me explain: The Paceline Card (the first-ever wellness credit card, btw) gives you up to five percent cash back when you swipe it on eligible health and wellness purchases. And the Paceline App lets you earn rewards (from places like Obe Fitness, Sunbasket, Athletic Greens, and more) just for reaching 150 minutes of elevated heart rate activity each week. Endorphins with a side of credit card rewards? Yes and yes.
"With our rewards app and credit card, Paceline connects your health and your finances to reward you for being active—no matter where or how you work out," says Joel Lieginger, founder and CEO of Paceline. "Science shows incentivizing good health behaviors improves health outcomes, which is good for individuals and good for the world. We built Paceline to get people moving—a movement that I believe has the power to change the nature of preventive health in society."
"Science shows incentivizing good health behaviors improves health outcomes, which is good for individuals and good for the world."
And I can confirm, it works. Getting connected with the Paceline Card and app was just the extra incentive I needed to get myself off the couch and back onto my mat (since I was essentially being paid to do it, when you think about it).
"It’s a no-brainer if you workout regularly, and it acts as an accountability coach if you need a little push to keep your exercise routine," Lieginger adds. No brainer is right—here's how my new healthy BFF helped earn me rewards (and keep me motivated) just by doing my well-being routine of choice.
Keep scrolling to learn how I earned credit card rewards through my wellness routine.
Signing up
Anything credit-card related (or financial in general, if I'm being honest) usually intimidates me, which is why I breathed a total sigh of relief over how easy signing up for the Paceline Card was. All I had to do was download the Paceline app, fill in my information, literally click two buttons, and within a couple of minutes, I was approved and looking at my very own digital wellness credit card on my screen.
The next step was figuring out how, exactly, to reap all these rewards. Step one was using my card to snag an Apple Watch Series 7 via the Paceline app, which allows the app to track my steps and activity levels and then reward me for them. "The Paceline Card supercharges what people can earn when they hit their weekly 150 minutes of exercise," Lieginger says.
Here's how it works: When you hit your exercise streak, it unlocks redeemable benefits through the app, as well as doubles your cash back from 2.5 percent to up to five percent unlimited cash back on purchases from all qualifying health and wellness merchants (and from 1.5 percent to three percent on all other qualifying purchases). To sweeten the deal? I can earn back the full cost of my Apple Watch (a $429 value) over 12 months just by hitting my exercise goal each week.
My motivation to go to yoga class has never been greater—and since it had been over two years since I attended an in-person class, I knew just the spot to go get my heart rate up and rack up those credit card rewards.
Getting moving
Onto the fun part: shopping. After two years of at-home yoga flows wearing mismatched, worn-out outfits, let's just say my workout wardrobe was in need of an upgrade if I was going to venture out in public again.
Once I decided on booking my first-ever hot yoga class at Y7 Studio—a class I've been low-key wanting to take for years—I bought a new matching set from Outdoor Voices (that I earned five percent cash back on thanks to my card!) that made me look like I knew exactly what I was doing in class, even when I'm still not sure the difference between cow and camel pose. (Okay, it also doesn't have holes in the crotch—a necessary quality for in-person yoga.)
After trying Y7 (one of hundreds of gyms and studios I can earn five percent cash back for attending), I totally re-fell in love with yoga, and I've now made a standing Saturday morning date with myself, my mat, and some hip-hop tunes.
Post-class. I was able to refuel with lunch from the Whole Foods hot bar while also stocking up on meal-prep ingredients like salmon, rice, and veggies, for my week's worth of dinners. And—you guessed it—I was able to earn five percent cash back on all of that as well. See how the rewards are really racking up here?
The best part is that I'm continuing to earn more and more credit card rewards as I get these essential parts of my wellness routine back on track—and I feel like I'm nearly there already. "Your health is your most valuable asset and the foundation for how everything else functions," Lieginger says of why he founded Paceline. "So, why aren’t we rewarding people for pursuing their well-being and for living a healthier, better, and longer life?" I couldn't agree more.
Ready to start gaining rewards for your own wellness routine? Download the Paceline app here and learn more about applying for the Paceline Card!