Background: To identify the body and health perception and its relationship with obesity in a group of young adults. Methods: This is an analytical study performed on 1,073 young adults from Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, through a questionnaire whose data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The Ethics Committee approved the study under opinion nº 263.271/ 2013. Results: Results showed that women with obesity tended to perceive their condition more and evidenced greater body dissatisfaction than men. In addition, they were associated with obesity, self-perception of overweight and body satisfaction. Conclusion: Young people with obesity perceive their condition and are dissatisfied with it.