@wiltedfacade: if you have been actively exercising for a while, you can do a bit extra hard from your usual routine.

but if you're sedentary (less active), I suggest these tips:
+ reduce portion of food from your usual amount (1/4, 1/3, 1/2 till its small enough as a plate) ((very important))
+ be selective with your food choices ((very important))

more info links about the top two Healthy plate portion & food intake

+ if you're not used to eat healthy food, you can do them in progressions. dont force yourself to get rid of your fave unhealthy foods immediately, you can do reduced portions instead or like eat them in tea time hours only.
+ if you can cut down an unhealthy food completely, you can do so! but please try avoid crash course if you can.
+ when in doubt of your food choices, you can google them and also find some alternatives that is acceptable to you if you cant do full healthy food choices yet.
+ even if you cant do full exercise, moving around and do chores is plenty for weight loss. if you are able to do normal cardio or some runs, that helps also
+ drink plenty of water. the amount level depends on your activity.
+ please take plenty of rests in between interval of workouts so you are able to finish them all.
+ sleep at least min of 6 hours, 8 hours is optimum. if you have sleep problems, try to get at least 4 hours (nap time) and get some medication to help you get more sleep. its for helping ya endure the exercise routine and other important life chores eg: going to work ((very important))

i hope that even after the wedding, you will continue to eat more portions of healthy food in the long run while can still enjoy treats! I hope this helps!

@Kairu: This is really good info thank you!

eat unprocessed whole foods
count your calories in & calories out
weight loss essentially boils down to
CICO or calories in calories out

@wiltedfacade:
@totalanimefan:

there are some fruits that have natural sugar but should be eaten in moderation. fruits like apples, oranges and bananas are indeed healthy and natural sugar but they are still sugar. Their sugar still counts in your total food amount per day.

Normally I mention calorie count too. But cos you mentioned that you're a beginner, I rather suggest that you shouldn't think about it too much for your first phase of dieting. Instead, you cut them down in progressions as I mentioned above posts. If you have started to get used to it, then you can start changing your food choices slowly into more healthier options. You can also start looking in depth through calorie count and what helps your body etc (eg: if youre anxious, you might want to avoid so much caffeine etc)

The ultimate end goal is having losing weight, yes I agree. But I think fixing internally is much efficient in the long run. Eating less and less portion until its right amount then eating quality food progression gives you more permanent result. you might not be showing signs of weight loss in numbers but internally your stomach and then later your muscle fats is less and smaller in amount. the weight number follows. so is your desire to do gym like workouts.

It took me couple of months to have my stomach to get it smaller. Moving proactively (depends on your level of intensity and if you're much healthier than me the better you do much normal exercise) will help ya get the weight loss count.

I can promise you that it works because on my first few months of dieting, I started with drinking lots of sugary drinks/ and foods, eating salty chips and my portion is unbalanced. few months later, i am not looking for chips anymore. I still eat rice because it fills me but I can don't eat em all day. I have taken a liking of eating less salty/sugary foods. the first few times of attempting of eating a salad was difficult, it eventually grow on me. I am however in a process of making a monthly cycle of healthy meal plan cos i get to fed up with same food every week. I have increased my movement recently. it has done wonders in my mental state.

please ping me if you have some questions.

I think the only healthy way to help that, that i can personally think of and recommend is only drinking water and a fair amount of it, no sodas/juices etc.
Not too knowledgeable about other healthy ways since my eating routine is weird as can be lol.
I guess there is calorie counting too, but i don't know the ins and outs of it.

Good luck though and hope you'll have a great time at your sister's wedding c:

ALSO, losing 20lbs in a month is not the most healthy or realistic, so you might want to adjust your expectations and prepare yourself to deal with side-effects from changing your diet (headaches, body aches, etc.) about trying to lose that much weight in a month... you might get withdrawals, etc., from foods that you don't even realize you're "addicted" to (caffeine, sugar, certain additives, etc.)... which also brings up the possibility of actually being allergic/sensitive to certain foods, which can lead to bloat and the appearance of weight gain.

You might actually want to look in to something like the Whole30 or AIP (anti-inflammatory protocol) diet programs - both of which are elimination/"clearing" diets...