I never owned a car and am from the US. I lived in a pedestrian-friendly university town with a gorgeous campus and walked everywhere — gradually becoming heavier and heavier. No doctor could explain it. Including specialists. When I moved abroad (albeit not to France), I walked no more than I already walked through all my overweight years at home — but I lost 35 lbs. in those first 3 months.

Without even trying. While eating tons of white rice, veggie dishes swimming in oil, and adding (fatty) meat back into my diet.

The weight I lost when I moved abroad has stayed off, even after leaving that country.

This makes me think that, for some of us, it's not the walking. It's the chemical junk in the US food supply, and the over-sanitized nature of our food landscape too. I.e., the wrong bugs in our guts, and not enough of the right ones. There's an unfortunate myth that weight is about calories in vs. calories out, i.e., it's about personal effort and willpower/indulgence. My experience taught me that weight management is so much more complicated than a simplistic Bunsen-burner model. Long story short, I wish the US were more walking-friendly, but I also wish it had a more microbiome-friendly food supply as well.

Glad you are feeling well and enjoying life in France!