I did this diet about 3 years ago- it was at that time only called the "idiot proof diet", and nothing about your abs was included, so maybe there are some new rules... and it may be slightly different then. I found it easier to do then most any of the other diets, generating a meal plan for me, with items that were easy to make, and buy. Also it gave me like 5 meals that I could eat a day, in whatever order I wanted. I lost weight on it, every time I did it. My problem is that I don't eat much meat, I'm not quite a vegetarian, but I'm not a meat lover, and the food plan options weren't accommodating for my food choices.
Good luck. While it is a fad diet, and it's not something that you'd probably want to do for the rest of your life (a lifestyle change), it does work to jumpstart you into weightloss and help you are start eating better, healthier and towards more of a lifestyle change.