Earlier we talked about how you can avoid losing muscle mass by side-stepping a few major errors in your workout program design.

But, just as important as it is that you side-step those, it’s also going to be vital that you learn what to do on the nutrition front as well. If you aren’t eating the right foods, you are still not going to be preserving lean muscle mass.

Here’s what to know.

Avoid A Sudden Gigantic Drop

First, you should make sure that you avoid a big drop to your calorie intake right off the start. Don’t go from eating 2000 calories a day to eating 1100 or you will be in for problems.

Start slowly decreasing your calorie intake. This way, you also have room to decrease your intake as weight loss slows.

Aim for a 10-15% reduction every 3-4 weeks as needed.

Carb Up From Time To Time

It’s also a good idea that you are carbing up from time to time. Your carbohydrate intake is closely associated with your leptin concentration level in your body and this will dictate your metabolic rate and how hard your body is clinging onto its stored body fat.

When leptin starts dropping too low, you’ll start preserving fat mass and losing muscle mass.

Clearly not what you want.

If you carb up however, you’ll temporarily restore leptin levels and help side step this.

Keep Protein Higher At All Times

Finally, last but not least, make sure that you are also taking in enough protein. Failing to take in sufficient amounts of this nutrient is a sure-fire recipe for muscle mass loss, so get serious about eating more.

Aim for at least 1.5 grams per pound of lean body weight per day in an ideal situation. This will go a very long way towards preventing muscle mass loss from taking place. Also be sure that you take this protein in from high quality sources such as chicken breast, turkey, egg whites, lean red meat, fish, and seafood.

So there you have some fast and simple tips to prevent muscle mass loss. Choose your diet carefully and it will make a big difference.