Your
weight loss and subsequent transition to more-normal eating is closely supervised after
weight loss surgery, IIRC. You could expect to get similar results with a physician-supervised VLCD with a good transition plan if you stick with it. A do-it-yourself VLCD is unlikely to give you sufficient
nutrition or the skills you need to successfully maintain without regaining.
Another thing to bear in mind is that WLS generally will take someone from morbidly obese to less-morbidly obese, not from overweight to normal weight. You can safely (in terms of maintaining lean mass and in terms of avoiding metabolic slowdown) lose from 400
pounds to 300
pounds much faster than you can lose from 150 to 100, for instance.