As I'm new to posting, I may be too late to add anything of interest to this thread, but just in case it's not ... I've been doing the Visalus 90 Day Challenge since the end of April. That's two protein shakes, snacks and a proper meal each day with appropriate calorific content (I'm on 1370 calories per day) plus of course water. In that time I have managed to lose 20 lbs, but more importantly, I've been able to halve my diabetic medications. At my last check up at the hospital I was told "just keep doing whatever it is that you're doing". So I'm thrilled with these results so far. I don't think I could cope with any of the VLC diets, and with this one it works out at approx £1.60 per shake (depending of course on what you mix with it - fruit, veg, etc), so you actually do save money in that I'm only having to buy the ingredients for one meal per day!
Good luck with whatever you decide to do!