Protein Calculator

How much protein you actually need

Protein needs scale with body weight and training, not with total calories. Someone lifting three times a week needs more than a sedentary adult of the same size, and someone cutting needs more than someone maintaining, because a deficit is when muscle is most at risk. The evidence-based range for people who train is 1.4 to 2.4 g per kilogram of body weight per day.

For most readers that lands between 1.6 and 2.0 g per kilogram, which is higher than the government minimum of 0.8 g per kilogram. The 0.8 figure is the amount needed to prevent deficiency in an average adult, not the amount that supports training or preserves muscle during weight loss. Those are two different questions, and the popular confusion between them is why so many people think they eat enough protein when they do not.

How the calculator sets your target

The calculator takes your body weight and your activity level and applies a per-kilogram factor between 0.8 and 2.0 g. Because body weight is the input and not calorie intake, the target stays stable when you change your diet: protein does not need to be cut when calories are cut, and it should not be cut to make room for carbohydrate on a high-volume training week.

The output also prints grams per pound, which is how most American food labels and coaching plans talk about protein. One gram per pound of body weight is roughly 2.2 g per kilogram, which sits at the top of the useful range - a simple ceiling to remember rather than a target everyone needs to reach.

Reading your protein result

The first row is your daily target in grams. The per-meal rows divide it across three and four meals, and they are the numbers that make the target practical: a 165 g daily target is about 41 g per meal across four meals, which is one large chicken breast or a scoop of whey plus a yoghurt with each meal.

The food-equivalent row converts the target into cooked chicken breast, which is a useful mental anchor because it is roughly 31 g of protein per 100 g. It is an illustration, not a diet: protein from fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, tofu and lean meat all counts, and mixing sources usually makes the day easier to eat and more varied in micronutrients.

Does protein timing matter?

Less than the daily total, but not nothing. Muscle protein synthesis responds to each dose of roughly 0.3 g per kilogram - about 20 to 40 g for most people - and it plateaus above that. Spreading the daily target across three to five doses therefore gets slightly more out of the same food than eating it all in one sitting.

The old 30-minute post-workout window has been blown out of proportion. What matters is the total across 24 hours and having some protein within a few hours of training rather than within thirty minutes. If you train fasted at 6 a.m. and eat at 8 a.m., you are fine.

Where protein comes from

Animal sources are more concentrated and more complete, meaning they supply all the essential amino acids in useful proportions: chicken breast has about 31 g per 100 g cooked, lean beef about 26 g, salmon about 25 g, Greek yoghurt about 10 g per 100 g, and eggs about 6 g each. Whey and casein powders are simply convenient, delivering 20 to 25 g per scoop with very few calories.

Plant sources work too, but they need planning. Tofu, tempeh, lentils, chickpeas, edamame and seitan range from 12 to 25 g per serving, and plant proteins are lower in leucine, the amino acid that triggers muscle protein synthesis. A practical fix is to aim about 10% to 20% higher on a plant-based diet and to include a protein source at every meal rather than one large serving at dinner.

Mistakes worth avoiding

The most common mistake is treating a protein target as a meal plan. Hitting 165 g does not require six chicken breasts or a stack of supplements; it requires a deliberate source at every meal plus one snack. The second is drifting downward on rest days, which is exactly when repair is happening.

• Eating most of the day's protein at dinner instead of spreading it.
• Cutting protein when you cut calories - do the opposite.
• Assuming vegetable sources add up the same without planning.
• Buying powders before fixing the meals you already eat.

Frequently asked questions