[billmalarky]

Muscle loss from calorie restriction is much less than most believe (marginal until you get around sub 10% bodyfat). Same goes for metabolism slowdown. You will lose strength on a calorie deficit, but the muscle tissue remains.

Google "starvation mode myth"

See also this military study where men on extreme calorie deficits and high activity levels did not lose lean muscle tissue until hitting extremely low (sub 5%) bodyfat levels.

http://jap.physiology.org/content/88/5/1820

[graeme]

What about people who don't have much resistance activity? That's the more typical case.