An attempt was made to interpret the structure of cold-worked metals in terms of the associated anelastic behavior. The specimen used in the study was 99.991 percent aluminum which was heavily cold-worked but partly recovered. Analysis showed that under the conditions of the experiments, namely, prior stabilization and low stress levels, measurement of creep under constant stress agree with the internal friction measurements previously reported. The creep curves obtained showed several striking features. The most striking feature of the data is the complete recoverability of the creep. We could thus conclude that no irreversible processes were occurring, such as the generation of dislocations. The second important feature is the large magnitude of the recoverable creep, being almost ten times the corresponding elastic deformation.The consideration of a heterogeneous network of slip bands in cold-worked metals led to a creep formula which closely represents the creep curves obtained. As the interpretation in terms of a dislocation model would require some ad hoc assumptions, we are led to conclude that the picture of a distribution of slip bands having a wide distribution in size is a closer approximation to the state of a heavily cold-worked metal specimen (partly recovered) than is the commonly presented picture of isolated dislocations.