How much protein do you need?

Protein intake is one of the most studied and most argued-about topics in sports nutrition. The short answer is that active people need meaningfully more than the standard dietary recommendation — but "more" has a ceiling, and getting the number roughly right matters more than chasing precision.

Workout Math Calculators · Last updated June 5, 2026

The baseline: what sedentary adults need

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 g per kilogram of body weight per day for sedentary adults. This figure represents the minimum estimated to prevent deficiency in the general population — not an optimal intake for performance or muscle building. For a sedentary 70 kg adult, that is 56 g of protein per day, roughly the amount in two chicken breasts.

The RDA is a floor, not a target. For anyone doing structured exercise, the research consistently supports higher intakes.

Ranges by training goal

Sports nutrition research, including several large meta-analyses published since 2015, clusters around the following ranges:

• Sedentary / minimally active: 0.8 g/kg per day (RDA minimum)
• General fitness / recreational exercise: 1.2–1.6 g/kg per day
• Endurance training (running, cycling, swimming): 1.4–1.8 g/kg per day — protein supports muscle repair after long aerobic sessions even when muscle growth is not the primary goal
• Building muscle (resistance training, hypertrophy focus): 1.6–2.2 g/kg per day — this range maximizes muscle protein synthesis in most well-controlled studies
• Caloric deficit / cutting phase: up to 2.4–3.0 g/kg per day in some research for preserving lean mass while losing fat, though benefits above 2.2 g/kg are modest for most people

A 2018 systematic review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that protein intakes beyond approximately 1.62 g/kg per day produced no additional gain in muscle mass in resistance-trained adults — more protein is not indefinitely better once you clear the threshold appropriate for your goal.

Worked example: 70 kg athlete training to build muscle

A 70 kg person doing three to four resistance training sessions per week with muscle building as their primary goal:

Daily target = 70 kg × 1.6 g/kg = 112 g protein (lower end)

Daily target = 70 kg × 2.2 g/kg = 154 g protein (upper end)

So the practical target range is 112–154 g of protein per day. Hitting the middle of this range — around 130–140 g — is a reasonable starting point. This is achievable from whole food sources: three to four palm-sized portions of meat, fish, eggs, or legumes across the day, plus protein from incidental sources like dairy, grains, and vegetables.

Meal timing and distribution

Total daily intake matters more than timing, but distribution is not irrelevant. Muscle protein synthesis is stimulated by a dose of leucine-rich protein, and that stimulus largely resets between meals. The current evidence generally supports spreading protein across three to four meals or eating occasions rather than concentrating it all in one or two large servings.

Practically, this means aiming for roughly 25–40 g of protein per meal across three to four meals. A single meal of 60–70 g is not harmful, but the additional muscle protein synthesis response above about 40 g is diminishing for most people at most training volumes.

Post-workout protein timing does matter somewhat — consuming 20–40 g of protein within a few hours of a resistance training session is supported by research. However, if you are already hitting your daily total, the timing effect is relatively small compared to the effect of simply meeting your daily target.

Source quality

Not all protein sources are equal from a muscle-building standpoint. The key variables are:

• Leucine content. Leucine is the amino acid most responsible for triggering muscle protein synthesis. Animal proteins (meat, eggs, dairy) and soy are high in leucine; many plant proteins are lower, meaning you may need a larger portion to get the same leucine dose.
• Digestibility. Animal proteins are generally more completely absorbed than most plant proteins, though processed plant proteins (soy isolate, pea protein concentrate) can approach similar digestibility scores.
• Complete amino acid profiles. Animal proteins and soy contain all nine essential amino acids. Most other plant proteins are limiting in one or more. Combining complementary plant sources (rice + legumes, for example) across the day addresses this without requiring any single meal to be "complete."

For vegetarians and vegans, hitting the upper end of the recommended range — closer to 1.8–2.2 g/kg — and prioritizing soy, pea, or other higher-leucine plant proteins helps compensate for lower per-gram muscle-signaling potency compared to animal sources.

What protein does not do

Protein supports muscle repair, muscle building, satiety, and immune function. It does not, on its own, build muscle without a training stimulus — extra protein without resistance exercise does not produce extra muscle in already-adequate diets. And surplus protein calories beyond your total energy needs follow the same rules as surplus calories from any source.

The goal is to meet your range — not to maximize intake. Getting into the 1.6–2.2 g/kg zone with consistent training is where the meaningful benefits occur for most athletes.