Protein Calculator

To find out exactly how much protein you need, try using our Protein Calculator—it’s a quick and easy way to get a personalized recommendation based on your age, weight, and activity level.

This protein intake calculator is a useful tool for determining your personalized daily protein needs, taking into account your individual factors to support your health and fitness goals.

Your activity level—whether sedentary, moderately active, or highly active—is a key factor in determining your protein needs. The physiological needs of the human body, including muscle repair and growth, influence how much protein is required.

The Protein Calculator on this page provides a tailored estimate to help you determine the optimal intake for muscle growth, recovery, and overall wellness.

To figure out how many grams of protein you need each day, multiply your body weight in kilograms by your chosen intake target—or simply use our Protein Calculator to do the math for you in seconds.

Determining how much protein you need is essential for supporting your individual goals, and getting the right protein intake ensures optimal muscle growth, recovery, and health. Older adults may need even more (≥1.0–1.2 g/kg) to counter age-related muscle growth.

A balanced diet with a variety of protein sources is key to meeting your daily protein needs and supporting overall health. Meeting your daily protein intake is essential for muscle growth, recovery, and maintaining overall health.

Check the Top 20 High Protein Foods

Daily Protein Requirements

If you're into general fitness or train recreationally, your protein needs are likely higher than the basic recommended levels.

While the standard RDA sits at 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight (about 56 grams for a 70 kg person), that amount is only enough to prevent deficiency—not to support performance, recovery, or strength.

For active individuals, sports nutrition experts recommend a more effective range of 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg per day.

So if you're wondering how much protein you need to support your workouts, a 70 kg (154 lb) person would be looking at roughly 84 to 140 grams per day. This intake range is ideal for muscle repair, recovery, and helping your body adapt to training.

When it comes to getting enough protein, both animal-based and plant-based foods can work. However, the quality of the protein matters. Animal-based sources—like meat, eggs, and dairy—are considered complete proteins because they deliver all the essential amino acids your body needs in the right proportions for muscle growth and overall health.

On the other hand, plant proteins are often incomplete, meaning they may lack one or more essential amino acids. That doesn’t make them ineffective—it just means you'll need to combine different plant-based foods (like rice and beans) to ensure you're getting everything your body needs.

If you follow a plant-based diet, it’s especially important to pay attention to how much protein you’re getting—and from which combinations—as this can significantly impact your muscle recovery and maintenance.

So within the recommended range, where should you aim?
A recent meta-analysis of dozens of studies found that around 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is an ideal target for maximizing muscle mass and strength gains.

Going beyond that amount offers little additional benefit for most people. However, consuming higher amounts (closer to 2 g/kg) may be helpful for individuals with very intense training routines, or for those aiming to build muscle while losing fat.

Research consistently shows that high-protein diets support muscle growth, improve body composition, and help with satiety and metabolic health. If you're training hard, it’s smart to stay on the higher end of the scale—your protein requirements go up with increased activity. In these cases, knowing exactly how much protein your body needs can make all the difference.

Our Protein Calculator is a simple way to estimate your ideal intake and ensure you're getting enough to support your fitness goals.

Importantly, these recommendations are global and not limited to a specific region—similar guidelines are echoed by leading sports nutrition organizations worldwide. For example, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) recommends 1.4–2.0 g/kg/day for most individuals who exercise regularly, in order to build and maintain muscle.

The American College of Sports Medicine and other expert groups offer comparable guidelines, typically ranging from 1.2 to 1.7 g/kg for both endurance and strength-trained athletes.

These protein ranges assume you're otherwise healthy and consuming enough calories. If you're under-eating—such as during a strict diet or calorie deficit—your protein needs may increase to help preserve lean mass. In these cases, it’s especially important to ensure you’re getting enough protein to support muscle retention and recovery.

If your goal is fat loss, increasing protein intake can help maintain muscle while promoting a leaner body composition.

Older adults and anyone aiming to maintain muscle as they age should also prioritize higher protein intake. For those over 40 or 50, 1.0–1.2 g/kg/day is often recommended to help prevent age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia).

Interestingly, older muscles are less responsive to smaller doses of protein, meaning larger servings—around 40 grams per meal—may be necessary to effectively stimulate muscle growth.

The bottom line: If you're active or over middle age, don’t shy away from protein. Chances are, your body needs more than the outdated 0.8 g/kg minimum to stay strong and healthy.

Not sure how much is enough? Our Protein Calculator takes out the guesswork by giving you a tailored recommendation based on your age, weight, activity level, and goals.

Pro Tip: If you carry a significant amount of body fat, you may get a more accurate estimate by calculating your protein needs based on your goal weight or lean body mass rather than your total weight. For example, someone who weighs 120 kg but is targeting 80 kg as a goal weight may want to use 80 kg in the Protein Calculator to determine their optimal intake.

Protein Needs for Weight Loss (Muscle Preservation)

When you’re dieting or aiming to lose fat, protein intake becomes even more critical. In a calorie deficit, your body risks breaking down muscle for energy; eating extra protein helps safeguard your lean tissue and prevents muscle breakdown for energy production.

Adequate protein intake is also essential for muscle gain and muscle gains, even while losing fat. Research and expert consensus suggest significantly increasing protein when cutting calories. A widely cited guideline is to consume approximately 2.3–3.1 g of protein per kg of lean body mass during hypocaloric (weight loss).

This was highlighted in the ISSN position stand and supported by multiple studies. If calculating by lean mass sounds complicated, a simpler rule is around 1.6–2.4 g per kg of your current body weight for those with moderate body fat.

For example, someone at 70 kg might bump protein to ~110–170 g/day while dieting, paired with strength training, to best preserve muscle.

Why so high? Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of high protein in weight loss. In one controlled trial, athletes on a diet who ate about 2.3 g/kg of protein lost barely any muscle, whereas those around the typical 1 g/kg lost significant lean.

Protein has a muscle-sparing effect – it provides abundant amino acids so your body doesn’t need to scavenge from muscle fibers during a calorie shortage. It also has the highest thermic effect of food (meaning your body burns more calories digesting protein) and tends to curb hunger better than carbs or fats.

High protein diets can enhance calorie burning, improve satiety, and support athletic performance, making them especially effective for weight loss and muscle gains. A higher protein intake is especially important for fat loss, muscle preservation, and supporting overall metabolic health during weight loss.

For example, replacing some refined carbs with extra chicken, fish, Greek yogurt, or protein shakes can help you feel satisfied on fewer calories and protect your muscles as you shed fat. Protein powder is a convenient way to meet your daily protein needs, especially when whole food options are limited. Protein supplements are also a practical and effective way to ensure sufficient leucine intake, which is crucial for maximizing muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and supporting muscle growth, especially post-workout.

Pea protein is a great plant-based alternative for those seeking to increase protein intake during weight loss. Higher protein (along with exercise) also signals your body to preferentially drop fat and hold onto lean tissue.

Some emerging research even indicates very high protein intakes (in excess of 3 g/kg) might promote a bit more fat loss in resistance-trained, though such extreme intake isn’t necessary for most. Practically speaking, aiming for roughly 25–30% of your calories from protein during weight loss is a good strategy (which for many will land in that ~1.6–2.4 g/kg range).

Protein Timing and Distribution

Does it matter when you eat protein? Yes and no.

The most important factor is total protein by the end of the day. However, consuming protein around your workouts can enhance muscle growth and recovery.

Eating protein at strategic times, such as before and after workouts, helps optimize muscle protein synthesis and supports better recovery. When you exercise (especially lifting weights), your muscles become primed for protein uptake – this anabolic window isn’t as fleeting as once thought, but it is real.

In other words, hitting a protein shake either shortly before or after your workout will help maximize the muscle-building response from that session.

How soon do you need to eat protein around a workout? Early recommendations talked about a 30-minute “anabolic window,” but current evidence suggests the window is much broader.

Muscle protein synthesis stays elevated for at least 24 hours after, the response does taper over time, so sooner is better than much later. A practical approach: try to get a solid dose of protein within about 1–2 hours post-workout (or immediately after if convenient).

This could be a scoop of whey in water, a protein-rich meal, or whatever fits your routine. If you train fasted (e.g. in the morning before breakfast), it’s especially helpful to get protein soon after.

And if you’ve eaten protein in the hour or two before training, you’re covered through the workout and can have your next meal a bit later without issues.

The key point is to avoid going very long (~4+ hours) after a hard workout without any protein. As long as you’re meeting your daily protein target and getting some around your training sessions, you are optimizing timing pretty well.

For most recreational athletes, precise timing is a secondary factor – think of it as the “fine-tuning” once you have your daily amount nailed. Hydration and carbohydrates around workouts also matter for performance and recovery, but those are separate topics.

Spacing Out Your Protein Meals

Beyond workouts, how you distribute protein through the day can impact muscle maintenance and growth. Imagine your muscle-building machinery is like a lamp that can be switched on by protein – it stays on for a few hours and then needs another flip of the switch. Thus, you’ll benefit from spreading your protein across 3-4 meals or snacks, rather than loading most of it into one meal.

The optimal distribution of protein may also depend on your level of physical activity, as those with higher physical activity may benefit from more frequent or tailored protein intake throughout the day.

For example, if your goal is 120 g protein per day, you might have ~30 g at breakfast, ~30 g at lunch, ~30 g at a snack, and ~30 g at dinner. Some studies even suggest that getting more protein in the morning (instead of almost all at night) helps control appetite and cravings throughout the day.

How much per meal? Aim for at least 15–25 g of high-quality protein in smaller meals or ~25–40 g in larger meals. There is a limit to the muscle-building benefit at a given time – roughly 20–40 g protein in one sitting is enough for most. Consuming more than ~40 g at once doesn’t hurt you, but the excess amino acids will likely be oxidized for energy or converted to other compounds rather than used for muscle.

Thus, “feeding” your muscles every few hours with a moderate dose tends to yield better results than one protein-heavy feast per day.

In practice, this could mean adding a protein-rich snack between meals or ensuring each mealtime has a quality protein source. Examples: Greek yogurt and nuts in the afternoon, or a post-workout shake, to avoid long gaps without protein.

Pre-Sleep Protein (Nighttime Recovery)

One of the newer insights in sports nutrition is the benefit of pre-sleep protein. If you think about it, sleep is the longest time most of us go without eating. Having some protein before bed can help prevent overnight muscle breakdown and promote recovery.

Specifically, slow-digesting protein like casein (from dairy) is ideal at night. Research has shown that ingesting ~20–40 g of casein about 30 minutes before sleep increases muscle protein synthesis during the day. Essentially, it gives your muscles a trickle of amino acids to use for repair while you snooze.

Practical options for pre-bed protein: a scoop of casein protein in milk or water, a cup of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt (which are high in casein), or mixed nuts and cheese.

These provide slow-release protein. Importantly, adding pre-sleep protein shouldn’t be an excuse to overconsume calories – think of it as shifting some of your daily protein (e.g. 30 g) to the late evening. If it fits your calorie needs, it’s a smart habit.