Most healthy adults need at least 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day, which works out to about 54 grams for a 150-pound person. That’s the baseline Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), representing roughly 10% of daily calories. But depending on your age, activity level, and goals, you may benefit from significantly more.
The Baseline for Healthy Adults
The official RDA for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, or 0.36 grams per pound. For common body weights, that looks like this:
- 130 pounds (59 kg): about 47 grams per day
- 150 pounds (68 kg): about 54 grams per day
- 180 pounds (82 kg): about 65 grams per day
- 200 pounds (91 kg): about 73 grams per day
These numbers represent the minimum to prevent deficiency in a sedentary person, not necessarily the amount that’s optimal for health, fitness, or body composition. Most nutrition researchers now consider the RDA a floor rather than a target. If you exercise regularly, are trying to lose weight, or are over 65, your needs are higher.
How Much You Need for Exercise and Muscle
If you strength train or do regular intense exercise, 0.36 grams per pound won’t support muscle repair and growth very well. Most sports nutrition guidelines recommend 0.7 to 1.0 gram per pound of body weight for active individuals. A 160-pound person who lifts weights three to four times a week would aim for roughly 112 to 160 grams per day.
How you spread protein across the day matters too. Your muscles respond best when each meal delivers enough of the amino acid leucine to trigger muscle repair. In practical terms, that means eating 20 to 40 grams of protein per meal rather than loading most of your intake into dinner. Spreading protein across three or four meals gives your body more opportunities to use it throughout the day. This per-meal threshold becomes especially important as you get older, when muscles need a stronger signal to start the repair process.
Protein Needs During Weight Loss
When you’re eating fewer calories than you burn, your body doesn’t just tap into fat for energy. It also breaks down muscle. Eating more protein is the most effective dietary strategy to protect against that muscle loss.
Research on athletes cutting calories found that 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight (about 0.55 grams per pound) was enough to maintain lean mass during a significant 40% calorie deficit. Those who ate 2.4 grams per kilogram (about 1.1 grams per pound) actually gained muscle despite being in that same deficit, though they were also following a demanding exercise program six days a week. Beyond about 1.1 grams per pound, additional protein didn’t offer further muscle-sparing benefits.
Protein also helps with hunger. It’s the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it keeps you feeling full longer than the same number of calories from carbs or fat. If you’ve ever noticed that a high-protein breakfast holds you over until lunch while a bagel leaves you hungry by 10 a.m., that’s the effect in action. During a calorie deficit, when hunger is the biggest obstacle to sticking with your plan, this matters a lot.
Why Older Adults Need More
After about age 65, your body becomes less efficient at using dietary protein to maintain muscle. This gradual loss of muscle mass, called sarcopenia, increases the risk of falls, fractures, hospitalization, and loss of independence. The RDA doesn’t account for this age-related change.
Researchers who specialize in aging now recommend that older adults consume 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 150-pound person, that’s roughly 68 to 82 grams daily, about 25 to 50% more than the standard RDA. This higher intake, combined with regular resistance exercise, is the best-studied approach for slowing age-related muscle loss. The one exception: people with kidney disease should not increase protein without medical guidance, since the kidneys are responsible for clearing protein’s waste products.
Protein During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Protein needs rise during pregnancy, though the increase is modest in the first trimester and becomes more substantial later on. In the first trimester, you need barely any additional protein beyond your normal intake. By the second trimester, the additional need is roughly 9 to 10 extra grams per day. In the third trimester, it jumps to about 28 to 31 extra grams per day as the baby grows rapidly.
During breastfeeding, the additional requirement is about 19 to 23 extra grams per day in the first six months, dropping to around 13 grams once you introduce solid foods and breastfeed less frequently. Most women who are eating enough total calories will meet these targets through a normal diet without much effort, but it’s worth checking if your diet is restricted or you’re eating very few animal products.
Not All Protein Sources Are Equal
Your body doesn’t absorb and use all protein sources with the same efficiency. The key factor is the amino acid profile, particularly whether a food delivers all nine essential amino acids in the right proportions, and how well your gut actually absorbs them.
Animal proteins (meat, fish, eggs, dairy) consistently score highest on protein quality scales. Dairy proteins like whey and milk protein are classified as “excellent” quality sources. Among plant proteins, soy ranks as “good” quality, while pea protein and wheat score lower because they’re limited in one or more essential amino acids. Older scoring methods actually overestimated the quality of many plant proteins, so some numbers you see online may make soy or wheat protein look better than they are.
None of this means plant-based diets can’t provide enough protein. They can. You just need more variety and slightly higher total intake to compensate for lower absorption. Combining grains with legumes (rice and beans, hummus and pita) covers the amino acid gaps that each has individually. If you eat a fully plant-based diet, aiming for the higher end of protein recommendations is a reasonable adjustment.
Is Too Much Protein Dangerous?
For people with healthy kidneys, high-protein diets have not been shown to cause medical problems. This holds true even at intakes well above the RDA. The idea that high protein damages healthy kidneys is a persistent myth that isn’t supported by current evidence.
The concern is real, however, for people who already have kidney disease. When kidney function is compromised, the body struggles to clear the waste products from protein metabolism, and a high-protein diet can accelerate the decline. People with diabetes are also at elevated risk for kidney problems and should be more cautious about dramatic increases in protein intake.
Practical Targets by Goal
- Sedentary adult, general health: 0.36 grams per pound (0.8 g/kg)
- Active adult, regular exercise: 0.5 to 0.7 grams per pound (1.2 to 1.6 g/kg)
- Muscle building or intense training: 0.7 to 1.0 gram per pound (1.6 to 2.2 g/kg)
- Weight loss while preserving muscle: 0.7 to 1.1 grams per pound (1.6 to 2.4 g/kg)
- Adults over 65: 0.45 to 0.55 grams per pound (1.0 to 1.2 g/kg)
Use your current body weight for these calculations. If you’re significantly overweight, using your target or ideal body weight gives a more practical number, since excess fat tissue doesn’t drive protein requirements the way muscle does. Spread your intake across at least three meals, aiming for 20 to 40 grams per sitting, and prioritize high-quality sources or diverse plant combinations to make the most of what you eat.