  We present a self-consistent theory for the thermodynamics of the BCS-BEC
crossover in the normal and superfluid phase which is both conserving and
gapless. It is based on the variational many-body formalism developed by
Luttinger and Ward and by DeDominicis and Martin. Truncating the exact
functional for the entropy to that obtained within a ladder approximation, the
resulting self-consistent integral equations for the normal and anomalous Green
functions are solved numerically for arbitrary coupling. The critical
temperature, the equation of state and the entropy are determined as a function
of the dimensionless parameter $1/k_Fa$, which controls the crossover from the
BCS-regime of extended pairs to the BEC-regime of tightly bound molecules. The
tightly bound pairs turn out to be described by a Popov-type approximation for
a dilute, repulsive Bose gas. Even though our approximation does not capture
the critical behaviour near the continuous superfluid transition, our results
provide a consistent picture for the complete crossover thermodynamics which
compare well with recent numerical and field-theoretic approaches at the
unitarity point.
