I'm "skinny fat"

Let's start off by saying that I'm 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh around 130 pounds. I joined our city's rec center/gym and went in for my fitness assessment today. The extent of my recent exercise routine (i.e. the last five years) has been chasing around the kids and taking them to the pool twice a week. I get in the pool with them, but don't swim laps or anything. 

So here's what happened:
My heart rate was 152 after doing the 3 minute step test. (Verdict: very poor)
I could do 12 modified push ups. (very poor)
I did 32 sit ups in a minute. (above average)
My body fat (they measured my tricep, waist and thigh with the calipers twice) is 31%, which is one category better than obese.  The assessor (a certified trainer with both undergraduate and graduate degrees in health and nutrition who is employed by a hospital's PT office in the rec center) told me its accuracy is +/- 2%, but still that is very sad to me. 

I am considered "moderately fat". On a good note, my blood pressure was good (98 over 60).


My fitness goals are to gain weight but have it be muscle instead of fat. I hate exercising and I just know it's going to be an uphill battle.  I have another appointment with the trainer who assessed me on the 20th so she can tell me what type of exercising I should be doing to gain weight but have it be muscle.  She mentioned something about doing less reps but making the weights be heavy.  I'm kind of nervous.  I'm more nervous though about whether or not I'm going to be able to commit to exercise consistently.


Being "skinny fat" was actually profiled on the Today Show recently.  The woman in the video below who is "skinny fat" is at 27% body fat.