I thought I was alone on this until I googled it and found endless results- called the "skinny fat."

I totally, completely, 100% understand why my friends/family/boyfriend tell me that I'd be so skinny in a bikini, because I look skinny in clothes. But underneath I have thunderthighs and a belly that will never go away!

I used to think one of my very thin girlfriends was crazy when she said she wouldn't wear a bikini either, until she lifted up her shirt to show me a huge pouch that NO ONE would ever guess was there.

So it's true- sad but true- you think you got to your goal weight and look amazing in clothes, and then you realize how much more body fat you need to get rid of.

Ew!

Weight training! Check out the feather lifters thread

Lifting heavy weights really helps you avoid being skinny fat. Despite the fact that I've come down from over 200lbs my BF% is low because I weight trained throughout my loss.

Granted I have loose skin, but that's another matter entirely. Unfortunately we can't always help that

Ah yeah... the dreaded skinny fat! UGH.

Lift some weights, it helps TONS! I'm rock solid in some places, and then some places I'd like to just cut off my body. Being a woman is no fair sometimes!!

Weight training helps but it doesn't really solve this problem. Not all bodies look good in bikinis. I have big strong thighs which are not sexy in a bikini. Even at goal weight. Even after being at goal and exercising myself into the best shape humanly possible in my body. I will never look traditionally pretty. I will always look curvy and sexy and voluptuous. And I spent so many years hating the curvyness that it makes it hard to love it when I get to goal.

I'd say read some books on body image and talk to a therapist about this. You should tone your new body, but you should also get to love it forever!

Curvy sexy and voluptuous IS traditionally pretty!

I agree, though, not everyone looks good in every type of clothing but weight training does help you avoid being skinny-fat.

My husband and I were just looking at my body in the mirror this morning while I was standing in my bra and panties. I have a horrible stomach, but it's almost completely loose skin. Anywhere on my body I think is 'fatty' it's loose skin (my chin, my underarms, my inner thighs, my stomach).

My husband who is as honest as can be and THIN said, "Melissa, I don't know if you have 15 more pounds on you." Well, you probably do, but realize, those are vanity pounds. You are fine now and at a healthy weight. It's just going to take time for that skin to shrink up. And it is shrinking up."

But... we all want to feel we have that 'skinny' look. That toned look. Well, not all of us will get that. Some by genetics. Some by circumstances (loose skin).

At some point, you just need to accept your body for what it is and learn to love it as it is because it's the only body you got. If you LOVE IT, so will your sexual partner.

Even if you (speaking figuratively, not specifically YOU) get down to < 20 % BF and have a ripped physique, there is always something else to nitpick.

I started lifting weights because I am very skinnyfat. I'm Asian which typically = extremely small-framed, and I often feel I "should" weigh 20 lbs less than a lot of medium and bigger built women my height. At this point I'm too lazy/content to actually diet off more weight, so I'm hoping lifting and exercising more will make my 130-132 lbs appear more compact.

Better skinny fat than fat fat though. Don't forget that!

For sure! I'm in arguably the best shape of my life, and am at about 11-12% bodyfat, but there is ALWAYS something I want to improve; I need more separation and definition between my delts and biceps, I want more size to my glutes, okay... now my lats are too muscular....

Its a balancing act. I am an aspiring fitness model so I do tend to pick myself apart, and it's hard to stay positive some days, but then I look back at how far I've come and do a little happy dance because I worked DAMN HARD for this body, and you have too!

We pick ourselves apart entirely too much and need to learn to love our bodies for all they do for us. You may never have perfectly flat abs and immaculately tight skin, but would you trade it for your previous body that filled all that skin out? Give it time, and I'm sure you'll see improvements, but even if it takes forever, it's still better than where you were.

That's what I was thinking. Skinny fat is a problem I'd love to have at this point! LOL.

Not trying to belittle anybody's struggle. I just wish I had some "skinny" fat that would hide under my clothes, because my fat fat hangs out so everybody can see it.

For me, I gained about 10 lbs in the past 2 years and I'm still at a healthy weight, but the weight gain was stress-induced and is all at my stomach. So I can hide it mostly with the right kind of clothes, but it's definitely there and something I want to get rid of.

I have the exact OPPOSITE problem.

I look good naked but as soon as I put on pants (even loose ones!) I immediately get a muffin top. Ugh!

I've had to be VERY careful what shirts I buy in an effort to hide it and it is not easy.

Yet I think I look pretty darn good in the buff LOL

OMG, I thought it was only me that had these thoughts. How do we come to the point of loving our bodies when in our mind we want to look a certain way, like the "pretty people" do? Society has made us this way and logically I know this, but can't seem to help myself.

All it takes is one person with a "better" body than me and I might as well be 30 lbs heavier with zero fitness. Luckily (from a purely "schadenfreude" perspective), this probably happens to every woman.