A 75-year-old woman needs more protein than the official minimum suggests. The U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is set at 46 grams per day (0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight), but most experts in aging nutrition now recommend 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. For a 150-pound woman, that translates to roughly 68 to 82 grams of protein per day.
The gap between the official number and the expert recommendation matters, because about half of women aged 71 and older fall short of even the baseline protein targets in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Understanding where the numbers come from, and how to hit them, can make a real difference in strength, mobility, and independence.
Why the Official RDA Falls Short
The RDA of 0.8 grams per kilogram was designed to prevent deficiency in the general adult population. It was not set to preserve muscle mass in older adults or to account for the way aging bodies process protein. As you get older, your muscles become less responsive to the protein you eat. Researchers describe this as a “blunted anabolic response,” meaning your body needs a stronger protein signal at each meal to do the same muscle-building work it did when you were younger.
This is why multiple expert groups, including an international consortium of geriatric and nutrition researchers known as the PROT-AGE group, have recommended that healthy older adults aim for 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. The higher end of that range applies if you exercise regularly, are recovering from illness, or are trying to lose weight while preserving muscle. Mayo Clinic echoes this same range for postmenopausal women specifically.
What That Looks Like in Real Food
To figure out your personal target, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms, then multiply by 1.0 to 1.2. Here are a few examples:
- 130 pounds (59 kg): 59 to 71 grams of protein per day
- 150 pounds (68 kg): 68 to 82 grams per day
- 170 pounds (77 kg): 77 to 93 grams per day
Spreading that across three meals, you’re looking at roughly 25 to 30 grams per meal. A chicken breast has about 25 grams. A cup of Greek yogurt has around 15 to 20. Two eggs provide about 12. A half-cup of cooked lentils adds roughly 9 grams. Most people find it easier to hit these numbers by anchoring each meal around a protein source rather than trying to add protein as an afterthought.
Why Protein Per Meal Matters
Eating 80 grams of protein in a day won’t help much if 50 of those grams come at dinner and breakfast is just toast and coffee. Older adults need to reach a threshold of about 25 to 30 grams of protein at each meal to effectively trigger muscle repair. That threshold is higher than what younger adults need, and it’s driven by the amino acid leucine, which acts as a kind of on-switch for muscle building. International guidelines suggest each meal should contain roughly 2.5 to 3 grams of leucine to clear that threshold.
You don’t need to track leucine directly. Foods rich in protein are naturally rich in leucine. Dairy, eggs, poultry, fish, and beef are all strong sources. Among plant foods, soybeans and lentils rank highest. The practical takeaway is simply to distribute your protein evenly across breakfast, lunch, and dinner rather than loading it into one meal.
Plant Protein vs. Animal Protein
Plant proteins are slightly less digestible than animal proteins and contain lower levels of certain essential amino acids. In theory, this could be a concern for older adults who already need a stronger protein signal at each meal. In practice, research on nitrogen balance (the standard method for measuring whether you’re getting enough protein) has found no meaningful difference in outcomes between diets built on animal protein, plant protein, or a mix of both, as long as total protein intake is adequate.
If you eat a mostly plant-based diet, the key is to eat enough total protein and to include a variety of sources: legumes, tofu, tempeh, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. When overall protein intake meets the 1.0 to 1.2 gram target, essential amino acid shortfalls don’t typically become a problem. That said, reaching 25 to 30 grams per meal from plants alone requires more volume of food, which can be a challenge if your appetite has decreased.
The Role of Strength Training
Protein intake and physical activity work on the same problem from different angles. Sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass and strength that accelerates after age 70, is driven by both a less active lifestyle and a less than optimal diet. Resistance exercise has clear, well-documented benefits for maintaining muscle in older adults. Even simple bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, or light weights two to three times a week can meaningfully slow muscle loss.
Interestingly, research hasn’t found a strong synergistic effect between protein supplements and resistance exercise in older populations. That doesn’t mean protein doesn’t matter. It means exercise and adequate protein each independently contribute to muscle preservation, and neither one fully substitutes for the other. Doing both is better than doing either alone.
When Higher Protein May Not Be Safe
For most healthy older women, eating 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram is safe and well-supported by evidence. The exception is kidney disease. A higher protein diet can worsen kidney function in people whose kidneys are already compromised, because the kidneys are responsible for filtering protein’s waste products. If you have kidney disease, diabetes, or another chronic condition that affects kidney function, your protein target may need to be lower and should be guided by your doctor or a dietitian who can factor in your lab results.
For everyone else, the risk of eating too little protein is far more common and more consequential than the risk of eating too much. Insufficient protein accelerates muscle loss, increases fall risk, slows wound healing, and weakens immune function. At 75, getting enough protein at every meal is one of the most straightforward things you can do to protect your mobility and independence.