Since I doubt that what I'm about to tell you will be familiar to you let's start with why you want to lose 20 pounds in a month.

You're fat.

Or overweight or big boned or heavy (that's the one I always used...I'm heavy) or whatever you want to call it. Since I was just like you I decided I was going to take back the word fat. I was a fat guy. Because I'm really big (get it?) on taking the bull by the horns and confronting issues head on, I'm not afraid of the word any more. And, it could be because I'm a lot thinner now.

So whether your issue is purely cosmetic: you want to look good (heck, who doesn't?) for a special someone, you need to fit into a particular piece of clothing, or you are just tired of carrying around the extra baggage and have decided...enough is enough, it's time to get serious. And you do have to get to this point, there's no magic that's going to happen to make you lose 20 pounds.

But it doesn't have to be miserable. You don't have to starve yourself. You may not even have to give up your favorite foods. I mean, unless your faves happen to be lard and suet sandwiches; you might want to cut back on those.

And obviously there is the health issue regarding overweight people. You know your heart and lungs have to work harder the heavier you are. And you could be courting high cholesterol and blood pressure.

I know you've heard all the song and dance about high fiber, low carbohydrate, non-fat, eating oat hulls and wheat chaff mixed with your soy milk. But I'm sorry that sounds like a miserable existence to me. You like it, fine; I'm sticking with the food I already enjoy. So, I'm telling you that you can continue eating your favorite foods and still lose those pounds.

Yup, that's right. And here's the catch. For you to be able to lose 20 pounds in a month, you need to learn how to reprogram you metabolism so that your body burns the calories you're taking in rather than storing them for later. And you'll do this very systematically by shifting the kind, the amounts, and most importantly the time that your consume these calories. I hope you don't mind that you'll have to eat more than three meals a day. Not grazing throughout the day but four actual meals. These four meals will change the rate that the hormones in your brain that control this stuff are delivered to your system.

You will find that being able to lose 20 pounds isn't nearly as difficult, or as painful, as you once might have thought. Take charge of your life and fell good again.