Ugh! the PM word! I think I'm there, but I'm to Chicken**** to get myself to the gyn to have my hormone levels evaluated.
I know I have metabolic syndrome and PCOS, so that accounts for a lot of the weight I gained in my 30s. I've never had a diet work for me yet. SBD has been the most successful so far. At my best I lost 25 pounds. I've put some back on but am working to get that back off and moving to a new downhill trend.
I bought the FF book and read it through, tried the diet for a couple of weeks and that was what threw me into a horrible fibromyalgia flare up. They advocated going off ALL my meds. I thought, "okay, I'm willing to take a gamble to see if this will work". HAH! NEVER AGAIN!! Nothing, not even weight loss was worth the horrible pain, insomnia and yuckiness that persisted for over a month afterward.
By far, the best method for ME, and I'm not saying this will work for everyone , YMMV and all that...is the SBD with exercise.