Finally Reached My GW?

I joined this website a few months ago when I (finally) accepted I had an ED after a year or so.  When I initially joined, I was at a weight of 90lbs and am now 117lbs, standing 5'5".  I am highly satisfied at this weight; although family members/close friends are still encouraging me to gain.  At this point, is it best to gain through light weight training or continue to eat a high calorie diet?

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let me say congrats on how far youve come!

right now youre at a bmi of 19.5, you should aim for a bmi of 20 at least.

looking at your picture, i think you could stand to gain a good solid 10lbs, at least.

honestly, your arms look very thin still and your family thinks you culd gain more too, they would know better so i think gain more with a combo of continuing to eat a high amount-how much have you been eating? and adding some weight lifting but w/ continuing the higher intake.

congrats so far+good luck

In order to increase muscle mass (through heavy lifting - light lifting won't help), you'll need a surplus of calories, so I'd say... both?

Good for you I am at 137 with a goal of 160 and I can't get a pound and a half on a week.  Hoping a few days in Vegas next week will cure that!  :)

Thank you for your responses!

I generally eat between 2800-3500 calories per day; however, was thinking of easing up a slight bit.  

Amethysgirl:  When mentioning heavy lifting, how heavy were you suggesting?

"heavy" = heavy enough so that you can complete at most 12 reps while keeping good form, but are struggling on the last one or two reps.

If you are new to lifting, I'd suggest the book New Rules of Lifting for Women. Some of the text is geared more towards women trying to lose weight, but the routines are very good. The nutritional info is also assuming you want to at most maintain, but more likely lose. You can just adapt it to meet your higher calorie targets.

Congratulations elizabeth!!! :) xoxox

Firstly, you look absolutely stunning. Mind you I agree with agru, you could gain another 10 or even 20 and still be beautiful. But I do think your arms are looking quite skinny - this may well be natural - but the fact that your family are still encouraging you to gain makes me err to that side also (with caution). Yes 19.5 is a healthy BMI for some, but I wonder if it's YOUR natural set point? (Due to the fact you still look ultra trim). But either way, it's a really, truly, AWESOME improvement and I totally commend you for getting there! And again - you look beautiful girl!

At this point, I would think gaining through a combination of light weight training and a high calorie diet (remember you will need a surplus in order to gain additional muscle weight) would be optimal.

You are already a success story hon - keep up the great work. Thank you so much for posting, you are an inspiration to all the weight gainers here. You have no idea how encouraging stories (and pictorial evidence) like yours assists those still struggling. xooxx

Well done for reaching a BMI of 19 - just keep gaining that little extra, to a BMI of 20. If you look and feel healthy then, it may be okay for you to maintain. A profession who has a good enough knowledge in eating disorders can then asses your body type, frame size, and etc and determine what a good weight range for you is!

A BMI of 20 is recommended to protect people recovering from eating disorders - but once you reach BMI 20 it could be fine for you to stop trying to gain, and to maintain. Or you may need to gain more for your body to be at its healthiest weight.

You look perfectly healthy in your picture - you look slim, but you do not look too thin. But that is only MY opinion, and it is only a picture! If I saw you in real life, I might think you looked too thin.

A picture is not a good thing to base your weight goals from; no one on this site can accurately guarantee what you need to do based on a picture.

That is amazing and I hope you see how far you have come. I would not drop calories too much. It should be a gradual to maintain. You don't want to end up loosing to set of the ed thoughts.  If you were not doing activity before and now are going to you will need calories for that as well. I would not start off with heavy though. You need to train your body to become used to working out.You don't want an injury.Some places offer weight training classes for beg. I don't know if that would be an issue though as some don't respond well to the gym issue. 

Thank you all for your replies as well as your support!  It would've been much harder to go through with overcoming my ED without the vital advice & support of the wonderful members on CC!  Thanks Again!