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Alin75 is right. PLEASE listen to him.
Having had experience with this, I have to add my two cents:
No, don't do it.
You can't lose 20 pounds in a month healthily. The normal rate for healthy weight loss, even in an obese person, is about 2-3 pounds a week. If you aren't obese, 1-2. I've done fad diets - like, ALL of them. I've tried speed diets, I was also anorexic at one point. Now I'm happy, and at a good weight. Losing weight and being healthy is a lifestyle change, and a worthwhile one at that.
You need to retrain your body to absorb nutrients and use the food you put into it more quickly and effectively. Eat small portions 3-4 hours apart. Depending on when you wake up and go to bed, it should amount to 5 or 6 small meals a day. This will kickstart your metabolism. Eat healthy food - low sodium, low in fat, low in sucrose. Fructose and glucose (the sugars in fruit and breads) are fine.
Here are some tips to make healthy food tastier:
Fruits - try nonfat whipped cream on these if they're not sweet enough for you. It'll help kill your sweet craving. And hey, keep some sugar free candies around. That way, if you really just want one, you can have it.
Veggies - Dip is my best friend. As long as you just use the dip for a little flavor, and you're not using your carrot to scoop up as much dip as you can, you don't even have to have fat free dip. Though you can go that route if you like, and it's just as tasty. Also, switch to baked chips. They're not great for you, but they're a little better.
Grains - Whole grains. You need carbs. They keep your body going, they give you energy. Whole grains make your body work harder to digest them, and when your body works harder, you lose weight/inches/fat/etc.
Lean proteins - Eggs, turkey, chicken, fish. Protein bars, protein shakes (be careful with these last two, they're often sugar-laden. You gotta get the ones that are low-carb/low-sugar. Pure Protein bars and shakes are great, and taste great. These are NOT, however, meal replacement bars. You can nibble those as snacks between meals to keep you going, and after workouts.) Protein helps your body build muscle - lean protein = lean muscle, but you HAVE to be working out for that to work. If you don't, the protein will store as fat.
Alin75's right about losing the wrong kind of weight. What you really want is to lose fat, not muscle. Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat, and you might consider paying more attention to your size than your numbers.
Example: I weigh 120 pounds, and I'm 5'4". But I'm skinny because I run, and I have a lot of muscle. When I was 110 pounds, I was actually bigger because I didn't work out.
That brings me to my next point:
Cardio. Just like Alin75 said, cardio is important. It doesn't mean running, and you can definitely get your heart rate up using an elliptical machine, a wave-walker-thing, stairs, recumbant biking, etc. Cardio burns fat, which is exactly what you want. I won't go into detail with the exercise because it was pretty much covered in the previous answer.
I hope you take these facts to heart.
Good luck.
Siren
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