Souza, André Luiz LacerdaSouza, Perciliany Martins deMota, Bruna Eugênia FerreiraXavier, Christian Luiz FerreiraSantiago, Fernando GusmãoOliveira, Juliano SilvaBorges, Samir AlmeidaBearzoti, EduardoGama, Eliane FlorencioSouza, Gabriela Guerra Leal de2023-08-152023-08-152023SOUZA, A. L. L. et al. Ghost fat: altered female body perception after bariatric surgery. Perceptual and Motor Skills, v. 130, n. 1, p. 301–316, 2023. Disponível em: <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00315125221133868>. Acesso em: 06 jul. 2023.1558-688Xhttp://www.repositorio.ufop.br/jspui/handle/123456789/17185Body perception is an individual’s ability to recognize their body in attitudinal and/or dimensional aspects. We investigated women’s body perceptions before and after bariatric surgery. Participants were 31 women (M age = 36.23, SD = 7.95 years old) with an average pre-operative body mass index of 44.58 (SD = 4.65) kg/m2 . We collected anthropometric and body perception measures (attitudinal body image [ABI] and dimensional body image [DBI]) before bariatric surgery and 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after it. There was an average decrease of 21.09% in participants’ body weight over the 120 days. Regarding ABI, 51.61% of participants had high body dissatisfaction before surgery, and this proportion of dissatisfied participants decreased to 3.23% 120 days after surgery. We observed no statistically significant differences in DBI perceptions. Fast weight loss caused by bariatric surgery appeared to generate a perception of ghost fat. Somatosensory interventions and/or a longer follow-up are needed to alter this persistent distortion of body dimensions.en-USrestritoAttitudinal body imageBody weightDimensional body imageGastroplastyObesityArtigo publicado em periodicohttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00315125221133868https://doi.org/10.1177/00315125221133868