A 240-pound man needs somewhere between 87 and 218 grams of protein per day, depending on activity level and goals. That’s a wide range because a sedentary person maintaining basic health has very different needs than someone lifting weights or trying to lose fat without losing muscle. Here’s how to find your number.
The Baseline: Minimum Protein Needs
The Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein is 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. For a 240-pound man, that works out to about 87 grams per day. This is the floor, not the target. The RDA represents the minimum amount needed to prevent deficiency, not the amount that supports optimal health, muscle retention, or performance.
The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans moved the needle considerably, suggesting adults eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight daily. At 109 kilograms, that puts a 240-pound man at 131 to 175 grams per day for general health. This range reflects growing recognition that the old RDA is simply too low for most people.
Protein for Building Muscle
If you’re regularly lifting weights, your protein needs jump. The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends 1.4 to 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight for people doing resistance training. For a 240-pound man, that translates to roughly 153 to 218 grams per day. Mayo Clinic puts the range for people who regularly lift weights at 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kilogram, or about 131 to 185 grams at your weight.
There’s even some evidence that going higher, above 3.0 grams per kilogram, may help resistance-trained individuals lose fat. At 240 pounds that would mean over 327 grams daily, which is extreme and unnecessary for most people. The sweet spot for the vast majority of lifters falls in the 150 to 200 gram range.
Protein for Fat Loss
This is where things get interesting for a lot of 240-pound men, because many people at this weight are actively trying to lose fat. When you’re eating fewer calories than you burn, your body doesn’t just pull energy from fat. It also breaks down muscle. Higher protein intake protects against that.
Guidelines for preserving muscle during weight loss recommend approximately 0.7 to 1.0 grams per pound of body weight. At 240 pounds, that’s 168 to 240 grams per day. That upper end is aggressive, and there’s an important nuance here: if you’re carrying significant body fat, using your total body weight may overestimate your needs. A practical approach is to base your calculation on your goal weight or lean body mass instead. If you’re 240 pounds aiming for 200, calculating protein at 0.8 to 1.0 grams per pound of your target weight (160 to 200 grams) gives you a more realistic daily number.
How to Spread It Across the Day
Your body can only use so much protein in a single sitting to build and repair muscle. Research suggests aiming for 20 to 40 grams of high-quality protein per meal, distributed every three to four hours across the day. For a 240-pound man targeting 175 grams, that’s roughly four to five meals or snacks containing 35 to 45 grams of protein each.
Each of those servings should contain enough of the amino acid leucine to trigger muscle repair. The threshold is roughly 2 to 3 grams of leucine per meal, which you’ll naturally hit if you’re eating 30-plus grams of protein from sources like meat, eggs, dairy, or soy. A pre-sleep protein serving of 30 to 40 grams (particularly from slower-digesting sources like cottage cheese or casein) has been shown to increase overnight muscle repair and slightly boost metabolic rate.
Adjustments for Men Over 50
Age-related muscle loss starts gradually in your 30s and accelerates after 50. Nearly half of adults over 80 experience significant muscle wasting, and a study of almost 12,000 adults ages 51 and older found that roughly 46% weren’t even meeting the bare minimum protein recommendations. If you’re an older man at 240 pounds, you have even more reason to aim for the higher end of the protein range. Combining higher protein intake with regular resistance training produces the best results for maintaining muscle mass and strength as you age.
Older adults also appear to need more protein per meal to get the same muscle-building response as younger adults. Where a younger man might maximally stimulate muscle repair with 20 grams in a sitting, older adults benefit from pushing closer to 35 to 40 grams per meal.
Upper Limits and Kidney Health
For healthy kidneys, moderate increases in protein are generally safe. But consistently high intake does create extra work for your kidneys, which have to filter out the additional acids and waste products that come from protein metabolism. Very high protein diets may also increase inflammation and oxidative stress throughout the body.
The practical ceiling for most people is around 3 grams per kilogram, or roughly 327 grams for a 240-pound man. There’s no documented benefit for going above that, and it starts to crowd out other nutrients your body needs. If you have any existing kidney issues, even mild ones, high protein intake can accelerate damage. A reasonable upper target for most 240-pound men is 200 grams per day, which covers nearly every training and fat-loss scenario without pushing into risky territory.
Quick Reference by Goal
- Sedentary, basic health: 131 to 175 grams per day
- Regular weight training: 153 to 218 grams per day
- Fat loss while preserving muscle: 168 to 200 grams per day (or base on goal weight at 0.8 to 1.0 grams per pound)
- Over 50, preventing muscle loss: aim for the higher end of any category above
For most 240-pound men who are active and want to look and feel better, landing somewhere around 160 to 200 grams of protein per day covers the bases. Spread it across four or five meals, prioritize whole protein sources, and adjust based on how your body responds over the course of weeks.