The more the feelings come up, the more they eat. The act of eating excess food works as a defense mechanism against feeling pain. Soon this behavior gets out of control and you find yourself fat and without close relationships. My clients tell me they never feel hungry. This happens because they eat so often to avoid the feelings, although prior to psychotherapy most of them were unaware this was the reason they ate.
Many overweight people are in denial.
The denial takes the form of a belief that they are fat because they like food more than others, or they are extremely overweight because of their genes. There can be a valid argument for a propensity to gain weight because of genes but when the person is significantly overweight, the chances are they are overeating to get to that weight. I treat overweight people in individual psychotherapy and group psychotherapy. In order to help the person to lose weight, I deal with the reason why they overeat. I look for what is bothering them in their lives, what is not working for them, what is hurting them.