Sounds like the reason you might be starving is you are eating way too little. Did you ever calorie count during those times?
I started calorie counting and realized on an average day I was consuming around 2200 to 2500 calories a day- no wonder I got to 235! I then started eating 75% of my recommend daily calories to stay at 235, and that worked. I was eating 1600-1800 calories a day. Eventually I switched to counting carbs though because of my medical condition, for me counting carbs works better than calories.
Slow changes are permanent IMO. First I stopped eating chips, then stopped eating out as much, then started working out a bit more and cooking more, and so on. Now I mostly eat food from home, don't touch as much processed foods, I only drink water, and exercise at least 3-5 times a week
My loss has been slow, but I've found that the weight that has come off has STAYED off this time
And now that I've found a routine that works I'm definitely sticking to it and know I'll see more consistent results