In today's societies, pressures from the idea of thinness are omnipresent and lead to a corporal dissatisfaction with an excessive preoccupation of the body's image. Obese persons are often targets of stigmatization and are vulnerable to negative feeling about their physical appearance.

To evaluate the worries towards the weight and the shape of the body among obese women.

Our study was a transversal study, descriptive and analytic. A total of 42 obese women were included. Obesity was defined by body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 and divided into 3 classes: class I: moderate obesity (30 ≤ BMI ≤ 34.9); class II: severe obesity (35 ≤ BMI ≤ 39.9); class III: morbid obesity (BMI≥40). Patients were studied by mean of body shape questionnaire (BSQ-34) (Considering score BSQ < 80 lack of altered body image perception and score > 140 excessive preoccupation).

The mean age of participants was 33.6 years. The average BMI was 37.42 kg/m2 (30.45–56.26 kg/m2). Third (35%) of women had a high educational level, 41.4% were inactive, and 70.8% had an average socioeconomic level.

The average BSQ score was 108.31 (47–188). The majority of women (78.1%) had excessive preoccupation about their body image. The BSQ score was correlated to morbid obesity (P = 0.014). Women aged between 20 and 3 years were significantly more preoccupied about their body image (P = 0.046).

Majority of obese women were preoccupied about their body image. Young women and those having morbid obesity seemed more preoccupied about their body image.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.