Caloric restriction decreases skeletal muscle mass in mammals, principally due to a reduction in fiber size. The effect of suboptimal nutrient intake on skeletal muscle metabolic properties in neonatal calves was examined. The longissimus muscle (LM) was collected after 8 wks consuming a control (CON) or caloric restricted (CR) diet and muscle fiber size, gene expression and metabolic signal transduction activity was measured. Results revealed that CR animals had smaller (P < 0.05) LM fiber cross-sectional area than CON, as expected. Western blot analysis detected equivalent amounts of PGC1α-1 but reduced (P < 0.05) amounts of the splice-variant, PGC1α-4 in CR LM. Expression of IGF-1, a PGC1α-4 target gene, was 40% less (P < 0.05) in CR than CON. Downstream mediators of autocrine IGF-1 signaling also are attenuated in CR by comparison to CON. The amount of phosphorylated AKT1 was less (P < 0.05) in CR than CON. The ratio of p4EBP1T37/46:total 4EBP1, a downstream mediator of AKT1, did not differ between CON and CR. By contrast, protein lysates from CR LM contained less (P < 0.05) total GSK3β and phosphorylated GSK3β than CON LM, suggesting blunted protein synthesis. Smaller CR LM fiber size associates with increased (P < 0.05) CAPN1 activity coupled with lower (P < 0.05) expression of calpastatin, the endogenous inhibitor of CAPN1. Atrogin-1 and MuRF expression and autophagy components were unaffected by CR. Thus, CR suppresses the hypertrophic PGC1α-4/IGF-1/AKT1 pathway while promoting activation of the calpain system.