Most adults need between 1.2 and 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 150-pound person, that works out to roughly 82 to 109 grams daily. This range, recommended in the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, is 50 to 100 percent higher than the older minimum of 0.8 grams per kilogram that many people still reference. Your exact number depends on your age, activity level, and goals.
The Old Minimum vs. the New Target
For decades, the standard recommendation was 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or about 0.36 grams per pound. That number was never meant to be a target for optimal health. It was the minimum needed to prevent deficiency in a sedentary adult. For a 150-pound person, that’s just 54 grams a day, which most nutrition researchers now consider too low for long-term muscle maintenance, bone health, and healthy aging.
The updated Dietary Guidelines raised the recommendation to 1.2–1.6 grams per kilogram, reflecting a growing body of evidence that higher protein intake supports muscle retention, satiety, and metabolic health across all age groups. If you’ve been aiming for the old 0.8 number, you’re likely undershooting what your body can use.
How to Calculate Your Number
Start by converting your weight to kilograms (divide pounds by 2.2), then multiply by the range that fits your situation. Here’s what that looks like for common body weights at the general 1.2–1.6 g/kg range:
- 130 lbs (59 kg): 71–94 grams per day
- 150 lbs (68 kg): 82–109 grams per day
- 180 lbs (82 kg): 98–131 grams per day
- 200 lbs (91 kg): 109–145 grams per day
These numbers assume a generally healthy, moderately active adult. If you’re very sedentary, the lower end is reasonable. If you’re active, older, or trying to lose weight, aim higher within the range or beyond it.
Protein Needs for Building Muscle
If you lift weights or do resistance training with the goal of gaining muscle, your needs sit at the upper end or above the general range. A major review of protein supplementation studies found that 1.6 grams per kilogram provides the maximum benefit for muscle growth, and intakes up to 2.2 grams per kilogram may offer a slight additional edge. For a 170-pound person, that’s 124 to 170 grams a day.
Endurance athletes, including regular runners and cyclists, need less than strength athletes but still more than sedentary adults. The Mayo Clinic places their range at 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kilogram, roughly the same as the updated general guidelines but toward the higher end.
Protein Needs During Weight Loss
When you eat fewer calories than you burn, your body doesn’t just tap fat for energy. It also breaks down muscle, especially if protein intake is low. Eating more protein during a calorie deficit is one of the most effective ways to preserve muscle while losing fat.
The recommended range for muscle preservation during weight loss is approximately 0.7 to 1.0 grams per pound of body weight. That’s notably higher than the general population recommendation and works out to 105 to 150 grams daily for someone weighing 150 pounds. Combining this level of protein with resistance training gives you the best chance of losing mostly fat rather than a mix of fat and muscle.
Protein Needs After Age 65
Aging muscles become less efficient at using dietary protein, a phenomenon researchers call “anabolic resistance.” The same 20-gram serving of chicken that triggers strong muscle repair in a 30-year-old produces a weaker response in a 70-year-old. This is one reason age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, accelerates in later decades.
For generally healthy older adults, the optimal range is 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram per day. Those dealing with chronic illness, frailty, or recovery from acute illness need even more: 1.2 to 1.5 grams per kilogram, and up to 2.0 grams per kilogram in severe cases. A large study following over 8,500 adults aged 60 and older for up to 10 years found that higher protein intake was associated with lower risk of death from all causes, a pattern that held regardless of whether the protein came from animal or plant sources.
Protein Needs During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Protein requirements increase throughout pregnancy, but the increase isn’t uniform across trimesters. In the first trimester, the additional need is negligible, roughly 1 extra gram per day. By the second trimester, that jumps to about 9 grams above your normal intake. In the third trimester, the increase is substantial: 28 to 31 additional grams daily, reflecting the rapid growth of the baby, placenta, and supporting tissues.
During breastfeeding, an additional 19 to 23 grams per day is recommended for the first six months. After six months, when most mothers introduce solid foods and breastfeed less frequently, the extra need drops to about 13 grams per day.
Spreading Protein Across Meals
Your body can only use so much protein at once for muscle repair. Research on muscle protein synthesis suggests that 25 to 40 grams per meal is the effective range for most adults. Eating 10 grams at breakfast and 80 grams at dinner is less effective than distributing your intake more evenly, even if the daily total is the same.
Older adults may need to be especially intentional about this. Studies show that 20 grams per meal, the amount in a typical serving of meat or fish, often falls short of the threshold needed to maximally stimulate muscle repair in aging muscle. Aiming for at least 30 grams per meal appears to produce a stronger response. Including protein sources rich in leucine, an amino acid abundant in dairy, eggs, chicken, and fish, makes each serving more effective at triggering repair.
Plant vs. Animal Protein Sources
Animal proteins (meat, fish, eggs, dairy) contain all the essential amino acids in proportions your body can readily use, and they’re more digestible than most plant proteins. Studies comparing digestibility scores between animal-based and plant-based foods consistently show higher scores for animal sources, largely because they contain more leucine and lysine, two amino acids that are often limited in plant foods.
That doesn’t mean plant-based diets can’t meet your protein needs. They can, but it requires more variety. Beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, and whole grains each have different amino acid profiles. Eating a mix of these throughout the day fills in the gaps that any single plant source leaves. If you eat entirely plant-based, aiming toward the higher end of protein recommendations is a practical way to compensate for the lower digestibility of individual foods.
Is Too Much Protein Harmful?
The concern you hear most often is kidney damage. This idea dates back to early animal research showing that high-protein diets caused kidney enlargement and accelerated disease in animals that already had compromised kidneys. For people with existing chronic kidney disease, protein restriction has been a standard recommendation for decades, though even that convention is being re-examined. A recent study in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases found that among adults over 60 with CKD, each 0.2 g/kg increase in daily protein was associated with an 8 percent lower risk of death.
For healthy adults with normal kidney function, there is no strong evidence that high protein intake causes kidney disease. Most research on intakes up to 2.2 grams per kilogram shows no adverse effects on kidney health. The more practical upper limit for most people is simply the point where extra protein crowds out other important nutrients from your diet, or where the cost and effort of eating that much protein outweighs any marginal benefit.