Hi Crystal
There are indeed a few of us on here who have come from VLCDs and I look forward to reading everybody else's responses!
Personally, I lost the majority of my weight this time around on Cambridge - when I say this time around, I mean from when I was my biggest! I started out at around 210lbs, lost about a stone - two stone through weightwatchers and healthy eating over about a year. Then I went on Cambridge - on and off- for about a year. I kept losing, and then regaining, although admittedly, I did not do the plan properly and my Counsellor was not supportive - she was fine when I lost weight, but kept telling me that Cambridge was the ONLY way I would ever lose weight, that I'd always have a weight problem, and heaven help me when I had a tough week! Moreover, I'm in a long distance relationship and when I saw my boyfriend, I would go off Cambridge and eat like a little piggy and gain most of the weight back! Although I lost 3 stone in total over that Cambridge year / 18months, I did gain 1.5stone of it back - all of which I have lost through Calorie Counting since the beginning of the year.
Cambridge did teach me to appreciate food - I would have killed for even a salad on Sole Source! It also taught me a lot about myself and my determination. I can honestly say that my first stint on Sole Source I did not cheat ONCE. Not for those 10 weeks. I even went away to see a friend and took my shakes and blender with me! As I was a bit of a recluse, it suited me fine in so far I didn't have to think about what I was eating and it was, in a way, easy to follow. I had more free time because I didn't have to exercise or cook (the two things that I love the most these days!).
Obviously I'd rather have faster than slower losses, but not at the expense of my health. My body fat percentage was high when I switched to calorie counting, and on a VLCD diet you do lose muscle and wreck your metabolism a bit. I'm losing slower, but I'm currently the same weight I was when I was at my lowest Cambridge weight - and I'm a size smaller because I have much more muscle and less fat.
All in all, I'm glad I did Cambridge to shift me from morbidly obese to simply overweight, but I'm even happier that I'm now eating healthily and exercising - it's harder, requires more planning, and has slower losses, but as Vince Lombardi (an NFL coach) said - the dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.