Jealous of her very thin supermodel roommate Jennifer, the midsized Jill binges and purges in an attempt to maintain her weight.

Kennelly came up with the idea for the film ten years prior its release after reading about eating disorders and how they can physicalize mental issues.

[2] The isolation of living in Los Angeles was another inspiration, and Kennelly said that the situations in the story came from his and co-writer Gilmer's experiences.

Kennelly wanted to create a horror film using the tropes of romantic comedies and sitcoms, genres that he said he found scary.

[9] Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle compared it to Nick Zedd's Cinema of Transgression and said that it is "nauseating, perceptive, and an altogether damning indictment of a hyper-consumerist society run amuck".

[11] Shock Till You Drop's Samuel Zimmerman wrote, "This is a film as informed by the veneer of Los Angeles as it is sickened by it; a layer cake of aggression, shame and madness.

"[12] Matt Donato of We Got This Covered rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote, "Excess Flesh starts out by asking the right questions about body shaming, but it quickly crumbles like a stale, tasteless fruitcake that's meant only for decoration.