Good advice. No one wants to deal with weight loss (and not everyone needs to) but it can only help. It is not a permanent solution.

As you note, bone-on-bone does not go away. There are no miracle injections to give you lasting relief and the menisci and articular cartilage will not grow back. A TKR, done by a qualified surgeon with a solid pedigree and happy patients, is likely the best answer.

I'm a 69 y/o male and in my case, the TKRs have been life changing. By all means do exercise to the extent your knees allow before the surgery, and then do everything you're told to do as far as PT. Most of these cases turn out very well. The surgeon has his or her part, but the patient does the most work for a successful outcome.