Every few months, it seems, there’s another grim report telling us that adults and kids are heavier, flabbier and less fit than ever. The January 2010 Canadian Health Measures survey is just one example. It revealed that, between 1981 and 2009, fitness levels decreased significantly across all age groups. Obesity now trumps smoking as the greatest public health threat of our time.

But in communities across Canada and at all government levels, movement and healthy eating are making a comeback. This is exactly what’s needed to get us back on a healthy track, slow and steady as it is, says Kim Raine, a professor at the University of Alberta’s Centre for Health Promotion Studies and an expert in community-based strategies to promote healthy weights. “It took years for us to get this fat, and it’s going to take time and effort for social change to reverse it.” Here’s a roundup of some of the most promising initiatives in Canada’s fight against fat.