• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 27, 2011

With all the attention that gets lavished on America's obesity epidemic, it's easy to forget the 77 million consumers who are currently maxing their workouts—a group that tends to be older, affluent, and decidedly anti-advertising.

In a new report called "Understanding the Active Healthy Lifestyle," Williams-Helde Marketing Communications says the thread that runs through this large group—whether they are 18 or 80, is a keen sense of personal responsibility. "These individuals are willing to take full responsibility for their decisions, their health, their actions and the outcomes of their experiences," the Seattle-based agency writes in its analysis. "Their belief in personal accountability is expressed through their behavior: Actively gathering information before making decisions; waking up early to prepare healthy meals and work out; and living active social lives to stay balanced and happy. And in turn, it's these positive behaviors that lead to them being highly influential with other consumers."

But because this group puts such a high premium on researching things on their own—they are 104% more likely to be heavy Internet users, for example—they're also extreme skeptical of anything that seems manipulative. And they're simply hard to reach. While they like magazines and the Internet, they're less likely to watch TV or listen to the radio. In fact, they are often "blind to advertising messaging because they rely so heavily on their own information to make product decisions," the report says.