Sometimes, the motivation to continuing eating is not hunger, but escape. You want to relax and not think about your troubles. Eating something tasty and doing something fun will keep stressful thoughts away, at least while you're doing it. Afterward, you may feel even more stressed than you did before if you're unhappy with the choices you made or the way you feel physically. Spending time outside, petting a dog, or engaging in a fun hobby also cause you to relax and not focus on your troubles. They accomplishes the same thing without food, maybe to a different degree of effectiveness, and probably with less fallout afterward. Either approach is a valid way to feel better. It's so important to remember that's all it is. You're trying to take care of yourself. You're trying to feel better. It's not a crime or a character flaw.
Personally, I still occasionally turn to food after dinner when I'm not the least bit hungry. I know that eating is soothing, so sometimes I choose to engage in that, knowing full well what I'm doing and why. It happens most often when I'm trying to put off thinking about something, like work the next day. I want to stay in my happy place.
For me, there are a few factors that make this not a problem:
1) I'm not chronically deprived or exhausted, and therefore not hungry enough to go wildly overboard in these situations.
2) If I let it, my body easily takes the extra food into account when adjusting my appetite, fidgeting, body temperature, digestion, energy level and all that. It may make for a great workout or a slightly lower appetite in the coming days, but it's not something I have to deliberately manage.
3) I don't judge it. Without any guilt or shame, the whole thing stays pretty tame. I need to get really emotional in order punish myself with food or eat like a total lunatic. If I'm calm, my eating is calm.