Well, i would suggest cutting off of pop...100% drink gatorade or water instead
find your favorite HEALTHY foods, and eat them...three times a day (minimum two) and if you've only eaten once, find a small snack for dessert for doing such a good job =
im on a wrestling team, anyone who knows anything about wrestling, its that wrestling is all about weight. try walking in the mornings, at least a mile. When you feel long capacity is getting better, and you're leg muscles are getting stronger start jogging.
If you exercise more, it will make you stronger, and you will feel less of a need to sleep for more than 8-10 hours. That doesnt mean NOT sleeping
Sleeping can lose you 1.5-2lbs a night. Depending on the room temperature.
If you can't do all of that, choose 2/3 to strive for. MAKE SURE the TYPE of food is one of the three.

For losing weight you need have lot of fruit and vegetables in your diet. Fruit and vegetables give you lots of vitamins and minerals which help in natural weight loss. Try to eat your vegetables raw it will preserve vitamins as cooking looses half the vitamins. Whenever you cook avoid frying and prefer boiling steaming and grilling.
For more details visit http://www.looseyourweight.info

If you just eat healthy foods in healthy portions, you will definately lose weight. Im not sure if what you want is healthy by january though. You shouldn't lose more than 1-2 pounds a wekk. I listed a good site in my source that can help you plan out your meals. It's designed by a professional (doctor) so he knows what he is talking about. This site is pretty much the only place to get his diet help unless you go to florida and get it from him directly. Check it out. It can't hurt.

You cannot lose 17 lbs in 1 month. This is a very common problem among people who want weight loss -- they lack patience and want it fast. Well, fast doesn't happen.
The fastest you can lose 17 lbs is by the end of February -- and thats amazingly fast speed.
I lost 40 lbs in 4 months in 1997. The key to losing weight is exercising and eating healthy. do not eat fast food -- mcdonalds, burger king, or any kind of fried foods. Even Ihop you should avoid.
Avoid eating out altogether because very few places actually offer healthy foods when eating out. Even those who advertise "we have low fat", have high calories.
Workout at gym at least 1 hour daily doing cardio for 30 minutes and weights for 30 minutes. If you can't make it to gym, do yoga at home.
Avoid eating meats and put the emphasis on fruits and vegetables more. Eating high fiber foods will help too. And just don't eat out, eat home.

don't eat