FIELD: veterinary medicine.
SUBSTANCE: group of inventions relates to veterinary medicine and can be used to prevent or minimize the loss of lean body mass by animals during weight loss, which includes: feeding the animal for a caloric maintenance period a calorie maintenance diet containing calories that meet the animal's maintenance energy requirements, feeding the animal for a caloric reduction period a caloric reduction diet containing calories that do not meet the animal's maintenance energy requirements, wherein the second diet contains between 5 and 95 % of the calories needed to meet the animal’s daily energy requirements, and the second diet contains 5–90 % fewer calories than the first diet, while feeding during the caloric maintenance period and feeding during the caloric reduction period is repeated. Additionally to preventing or minimizing the loss of lean body mass, at least one of the following is provided: preventing a decrease in energy metabolism in an animal and reducing the risk of a repeated weight gain by animals after weight loss.
EFFECT: group of inventions allows to maintain lean body mass during weight loss by animals with constant high energy expenditure.
13 cl, 3 tbl, 1 ex
