How Much Protein Do You Need a Day? A Simple Way to Work It Out

Most people who lift or are trying to lose fat do well on 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight a day. That is about 0.55 to 0.75 grams per pound. Inactive adults need less, at least 0.8 g per kg. Pick your range, multiply by your weight, then split it across your meals.

How much protein do different people need?

This is the quick list I use with clients. The numbers are grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.

• Inactive adults: 0.8 g per kg. This is the official minimum to avoid deficiency, not a target for building muscle.
• Pregnant women: about 1.1 g per kg. Check with your doctor or midwife.
• Endurance athletes: 1.2 to 1.4 g per kg.
• Stop-and-go sports and interval training: 1.4 to 1.7 g per kg.
• Lifting to build muscle: 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg.
• Lifting to maintain: 1.2 to 1.4 g per kg.
• Losing fat while lifting: 1.6 g per kg or a bit more, because protein helps you hold on to muscle while calories are low.

These ranges line up with the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand (Jager et al., 2017). A large meta-analysis found that extra protein stopped adding muscle for most people at around 1.6 g per kg a day (Morton et al., 2018). Lean lifters in a hard diet may benefit from going higher (Helms et al., 2014).

How do I work out my own protein number?

Here is a worked example. Say you weigh 210 pounds and your goal is fat loss.

1. Convert pounds to kilograms. Multiply by 0.454. 210 x 0.454 = 95 kg.
2. Pick your range. For fat loss while lifting, use 1.4 to 1.6 g per kg.
3. Multiply. 95 x 1.4 = 133 g. 95 x 1.6 = 152 g.

So this person aims for roughly 135 to 150 grams of protein a day.

The old version of this post multiplied pounds by the per kilogram number. That gives 294 grams for a 210 pound person, which is roughly double what they need. If you saw that number before, ignore it.

Should I use my current weight or my goal weight?

If you are carrying a lot of extra body fat, use your goal weight. Muscle needs the protein, fat does not. Someone who weighs 210 pounds but wants to get to 150 can run the math on 150 pounds instead:

150 x 0.454 = 68 kg. 68 x 1.6 = 109 g a day.

That number is easier to hit and still covers what their muscle needs. If you are already fairly lean, use your current weight.

How should I split protein across meals?

Divide your daily number by the number of meals you actually eat. With 135 grams over four meals, you are looking at about 34 grams per meal. With six smaller meals and snacks, about 23 grams each.

Research suggests muscle building works best when protein is spread over at least four meals, with each one around 0.4 g per kg (Schoenfeld and Aragon, 2018). For most people that lands somewhere between 25 and 45 grams. I rarely have clients go past 40 to 60 grams in one sitting because the meal gets so big it pushes out vegetables, carbs and fats.

How much protein is in common foods?

Rough numbers to help you plan:

• 3 ounces of cooked meat, fish or poultry: about 21 to 25 grams
• 1 cup of cooked beans or lentils: about 15 to 18 grams
• 1 cup of Greek yogurt: about 20 grams
• 1 cup of milk or soy milk: about 8 grams
• 1 large egg: about 6 grams
• 1 scoop of whey protein: usually 20 to 25 grams

If you want to know why protein matters so much for fat loss, read what makes protein good for weight loss. If you want help setting your full calories and macros, take the XPL quiz and I will point you to the plan that fits.