Different people have different lifestyles, tailored to their individual needs, and throughout a whole day, an entire life, as a form of life. When to wake up, when and what to eat, where and how to eat, what’s routine in the morning; same questions for lunch, afternoon, and dinner time; then when and how to take a shower, when and how to sleep.
If it's a general question, it’s about how you spend your time personally. In other words, it’s about freedom. If one’s time and energy are allotted by outside affairs, there is no other extra time and energy to consider their lifestyle. However, such a busy schedule can also be regarded as a kind of lifestyle, as a concession of freedom.
When it means “style”, it means the style one has, which is already distinguished from others; in other words, it’s a methodology and taste one has, which only belongs to oneself, continuously.
Therefore, lifestyle is a style of life that is long-termly formulated by a person, expressing their own taste of life. Which strictly means, imitating is not a lifestyle; it has to be personally unique.
However, such a narrow definition for “lifestyle” is not widely acknowledged. In general, it’s a word for new branding, new marketing, new trends — we have taste, we help you to formulate your taste, choose me, buy me, then you’re different from the others.
All about distinction.