Thank you for the welcome and your replies!

Liz, what totally convinced me about South Beach is that I don't have to count calories, fat grams, carb grams, the dreaded Weight Watchers points that I did for far too long, worrying about percentages of carbs to fats to protein (Zone diet)...I've probably done them all and I'm still fat. Why? Because they were never sustainable. I'd lose and always gain the weight back.

I much prefer just knowing what I can and can't eat and being reasonable with my portions. I feel that I can sustain this way of eating for the rest of my life.

I can't eat gluten at all, so I flirted with Wheat Belly, but for me, I feel South Beach is more liveable.

I do have to say though, I'm not convinced of the evils of saturated fats (like regular cheese vs. reduced fat), so I probably won't be as strict as Dr. Agatson would like, but I read that even he is softening up in that area, although he still does favor the "good" fats.

In any event, I so hope this works for me. I really have nowhere left to go.