6 weeks ago, I set out on a voyage on self-experimentation on the Slow Carb Diet. I was strict on the diet for 3 weeks, and the results were pretty staggering. I have since been less-strict on the diet for a following 3 weeks to see what happens when you come off the diet. Will I simply revert back to my exact state prior to commencement? Will I stay in the same shape I was in when on the diet? A mixture of the two?

I should note here that my habits haven’t reverted completely back to how I was eating prior to the Diet, as I enjoyed the Slow Carb lunches and dinners so I have kept up with those in the week, but incorporated a lot more of my porridge oats of a morning. I have had a succession of a few weekends of events happening, so my eating on these occasions has included Pizza, a burrito the size of my forearm, 2 carveries and a Nando’s. I’ve had a few cheat weekends!

The results are an interesting, yet confusing, yet not as bad as I thought scenario:

This morning I weighed in at 72.9KG, almost back to where I was initially (73KG). Is this a story of fat gain and muscle loss? Let’s delve a little deeper:

The results on the left are my final results from Slow Carb, results on the right are the most recent:

Overall, I have pretty much kept all the muscle I had gained, except for a little loss on my left arm, but gained more still on my thighs, chest and hips. Training was kept the same as before. This would indicate that the weight I am at now is different to where I was 6 weeks ago, more muscle, less fat.

Bizarrely, my body fat went up on my arm, but loss on my back and the the abdomen, despite my stomach mass measurement going up by quite a bit. One thing I have noticed over the last few days is a feeling of bloatedness, almost to the point of stomach ache, which could account for some of it, I did feel that I had regained some fat but I do look noticeably different in the morning before I have eaten anything. My energy is far higher when having had a Slow Carb breakfast and i definitely feel more sluggish and tired after having had oats.

So while I haven’t lost all of the gains I received on the diet, I definitely feel the body change has slowed a little. I’m still pleased with the mass gains, but body fat is creeping in to it too.

I am going to write a more thorough conclusion to all of this in the next few days so keep ’em peeled!