family doctor. She counsels "moderation", but it's not working. She says "avoid extreme measures", but what you describe sounds extreme. I'm fat enough for bariatric surgery, but I'm not sick enough - yet. If bariatric surgery patients, sicker than I am and also recovering from the trauma of surgery, can do this diet (cut 100's of cals), then I can too. If they can do exercise even after recovering from surgery, so can I. I will need checkups to ensure I get adequate nutrition, perhaps with supplements, but testing must be routine for bariatric surgery patients, so it should be no problem for me to get it too. At least I won't have nutrient deficiencies due to the surgery itself. This is wonderful news, Dr Sharma. My family doctor is a skinny athletic type. Probably she herself and her other patients are successful with the kind of moderate program she recommends. "If you gain a couple of pounds, just skip dessert and reduce portion size and you'll soon be back to normal." I realize that for me there is no "normal" to get back to. I've accepted that I won't have a normal metabolism and will always battle my addiction to food. I have had to drastically change my strategies, activity level, caloric level to lose 108 pounds and I'm still obese, though much stronger and more flexible and happier with how I feel. Doc says my prediabetes is resolved. I'm off BP meds. And except for my "fluffy" high