Best regime for a skinnyfat?

Hi everyone.

This question doesn't really fit in any of the topics listed here, but I'm hoping someone here can help me with something.

I lost quite a lot of weight a few years ago now. I'm 26 years old, 5' 6", and I'm now a size 8 (US size 4). I'm a meso in that I have far more muscle definition than I deserve and have a pretty solid frame with unusual strength for someone my size, but there's obviously a bit of endo as starchy carbs are disastrous for me and my fat is not distributed quite as evenly as you'd expect for a pure meso.

I had my body fat measured recently (using callipers over about ten points) and was surprised to find it came out at 25-26%; if you google something like "woman 25% body fat", the images you get are of women who are usually a bit bigger than me (I think - unless there's some dysmorphia going on here). I thought my composition was better than that, and I certainly thought I had more muscle than that figure implies.  I weigh about 126 lbs, so if that much of my weight is made up of fat that doesn't leave much to be muscle, especially as my bones are definitely larger than average!

Having done some research into this, I believe I'm at the lower end of a condition called "normal weight obesity", or skinnyfat to use the colloquial term. I don't like that and I'd like to remedy it; I'd love to hear from anyone who's been skinnyfat, and what they did to sort it out.  I know I need to build muscle to improve my metabolism long-term, but from what I can gather it can be tough to add muscle without adding fat at the same time - and more fat is the last thing I need!

Can anyone offer advice on how I can balance gaining muscle with losing fat, what exercises or supplements might be particularly good etc etc? At the moment I avoid starchy carb and sugar except immediately after exercise (and I avoid wheat altogether as I'm intolerant to it), I take multivits and minerals, omegas 3 6 & 9 and extra calcium, vit D and magnesium - I try to stick to a diet of loads of lean protein, good fats and loads of fibrous veggies. I also take low-dose T4 as my thyroid is slightly underactive and I get horrendous migraines without it - this means I have to be very careful with any other drugs like ECA, clenbuterol etc (and they feel like cheating anyway), so please don't suggest anything like that as I can't safely use them.

(NB - I am well aware that 25% body fat is well within "normal" range... but, probably like many people in this group, I am not interested in normal. If I was, I'd be happy to be a size 16 (US 12) as that is now apparently the average in the UK. I want to get to 20% body fat, because I want to be fit, taut and athletic, not just slim.)

Any advice would be very welcome, thanks for reading!

[CuteNsweeT]

I completely understand wanting to have less bodyfat, but 20% is actually considered too low for a female of your age. 21% is borderline okay. It's essential to healthy functioning, and it acts as insulation and padding for joints, nerves and vital organs.
Your diet sounds great, and is extremely healthy. Why would you want to change it?! If I could stick to that I'd be delighted! Lol.
To get down to a lower BF percentage you'd have to cut out more still, and follow a body-builders diet plan, something along the lines of plain fish (nothing else) every two hours, or a fat-fast (nothing but fat). Neither are exactly healthy ways to treat your body, so I can't recommend either of them.
Weight-training definitely doesn't put on fat, so if you're not doing it already, then start! You say you already have muscle definition and are strong, so it sounds like weights should be a natural thing for you to get into. As a female, you don't have the testosterone needed to build huge bulky biceps or anything, so don't worry about that side of it! Do you go to the gym for your exercise? Is there a trainer there that can start you off on a weight plan and show you how to do the right moves? If not, you can get really good advice from certain online sites; let me know if you need any recommendations!