Well, you've gotten a lot of advice, already, so I'll keep it to broader points and perspective. For context, I lost 100 pounds about ten years ago (I'm only 5'7", so that's a very significant amount) and successfully kept it off. (I think many people commenting in this thread lost their weight very recently or within the last couple years, but it's hard to judge "successful" weight loss after only a couple years).

Honestly, my typical hunger state still ranges from "I could eat" to "I'm very hungry," even after sizable meals. I've basically accepted there's nothing I can do to adjust this beyond trying to pick more satiating food and keeping a diet of routine rather than excitement. I find if I start changing-things-up too much it results in overeating.

I still feel fat. I mean, I run consistently and for fairly long distances (I ran 20 miles on Saturday) and lift weights 2-3 times a week, but mentally I'm still fat, even though I'm likely far more fit than the average American. It doesn't help that I have the dreaded loose-skin issue, which really wreaks my mental image of myself.

I occasionally do still get food binges, where I eat 3000-4000+ calories of junk food in a day. I kinda balance it out with controlling most of the other days of the month and keeping a good exercise regimen. But I still find that I can gain weight rather quickly if I don't control myself over a week or so. However, I should say that I've never gained very significant weight in an uncontrolled manner, and I've had no relapse of significant weight gain.

Sorry if some of what I wrote was discouraging. Honestly, despite the struggles and mental baggage I still have, I still feel exponentially better. Not just in terms of how I feel about myself, but that I can tell my body is just naturally functioning in a more efficient manner. And trying to improve efficiency, I guess that's something programmers like to achieve.

Regarding my actual process of weight loss, my two main takeaways with my experience are as follows:

1. Don't do things you hate. If you like both grilled and fried chicken, then choose the grilled. If you like soda and tea, just choose the tea. Don't switch to eating boiled broccoli every day if you hate broccoli, because it's not sustainable.

2. Often, the joy of things is acquired. I pretty much never exercised before I lost weight and found it an absolute chore. After I 'forced myself' to trying a few different things, I found one type of exercise I could tolerate (weightlifting). Gradually it developed into a routine, which developed into a passion for it. Now I have to force myself to not exercise. Similarly, I used to hate salads. However, routine, research, and experimentation resulted in me a) adjusting my palate to accept/like the taste of salads and b) making better-tasting salads (most people have no clue how to make a salad actually appetizing; iceberg lettuce, tomato, and italian dressing is really terrible), and ultimately I can say that, while it's hardly a "comfort food", I look forward to my nearly-daily salads as my favorite meal.

These may seem contradictory, but they're really not. It's about experimentation and gradual change. Eat and do healthier things that you enjoy now, do these things for a while, make it routine, and then make another change. There may be some degree of 'forcing,' but it's part of the process to find something you can tolerate and eventually enjoy, rather than suffer through the pain of something you despise.