Your daily protein target depends on your body weight, activity level, and goals, but most people need somewhere between 0.8 and 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. That translates to roughly 54 to 109 grams for a 150-pound person. The wide range exists because a sedentary office worker, a competitive athlete, and a 70-year-old retiree all have genuinely different protein demands. Here’s how to find your number.
The Baseline: Minimum Protein for Sedentary Adults
The Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, or 0.36 grams per pound. For a 150-pound (68 kg) person, that works out to about 54 grams per day. For someone at 200 pounds (91 kg), it’s roughly 73 grams.
An important caveat: the RDA represents the minimum intake needed to prevent deficiency, not an optimal amount. It was designed to cover the basic needs of 97.5% of the population, not to support muscle growth, weight loss, or active aging. Most people benefit from eating above this floor.
How to Calculate Your Target
The simplest approach is to multiply your body weight in pounds by a factor that matches your situation. Convert pounds to kilograms first (divide by 2.2), then multiply by the appropriate range:
- Sedentary adult, no specific goals: 0.8 g/kg (0.36 g/lb)
- Recreationally active or trying to lose weight: 1.0 to 1.3 g/kg (0.45 to 0.59 g/lb)
- Strength training or building muscle: 1.3 to 1.6 g/kg (0.59 to 0.73 g/lb)
- Adults over 65: 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg (0.45 to 0.55 g/lb)
- Pregnant or breastfeeding: 1.1 g/kg (0.50 g/lb), or roughly 71 g/day minimum
As a quick example: a 180-pound person who lifts weights three times a week would divide 180 by 2.2 to get about 82 kg, then multiply by 1.3 to 1.6. That gives a daily range of 106 to 131 grams of protein.
If you’re significantly overweight, using your current weight can overestimate your needs. In that case, base the calculation on your goal weight or use an adjusted body weight (halfway between your current weight and your ideal weight).
Protein for Muscle Growth
A large meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that the benefits of eating more protein for lean mass gains increase steeply up to about 1.3 g/kg per day. Beyond that threshold, additional protein still helps, but the returns diminish sharply. Each extra 0.1 g/kg below 1.3 g/kg added about 0.39 kg of lean body mass over the study periods, while the same bump above 1.3 g/kg added only 0.12 kg.
Resistance training changes this equation. People who lift weights consistently get more out of higher protein intakes, and the point of diminishing returns stretches further. This is why most sports nutrition guidelines recommend 1.4 to 1.6 g/kg for people doing serious strength training, even though the biggest jump in benefit happens below 1.3 g/kg. If you’re new to lifting or training casually, aiming for 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg covers the sweet spot without requiring you to obsess over every meal.
Protein for Weight Loss
Higher protein intake during a calorie deficit protects your muscle mass and keeps you feeling full longer. A meta-analysis of 24 controlled trials found that people eating 1.07 to 1.60 g/kg per day (about 27% to 35% of total calories from protein) lost more body fat, preserved more lean mass, and burned more calories at rest compared to those eating standard amounts.
The satiety effect is particularly useful. In one trial, people eating 30% of their calories from protein on an unrestricted diet spontaneously ate less food and lost about 10.8 pounds over 12 weeks, with most of that being fat. Another study found that people who kept protein at around 18% of calories during a weight maintenance phase after dieting regained 50% less weight than a control group, and the weight they did regain was mostly muscle rather than fat.
For practical purposes, if you’re cutting calories to lose weight, aim for at least 1.2 g/kg per day. Intakes up to 1.6 g/kg are well supported by the evidence and don’t appear to cause health issues in people with normal kidney function.
Protein Needs After 65
Aging muscles become less responsive to protein. This phenomenon, called anabolic resistance, means that the same amount of protein that triggers muscle repair in a 30-year-old produces a weaker response in a 70-year-old. The practical result is that older adults need more protein per meal and per day to maintain the same muscle mass.
The PROT-AGE international study group recommends 1.0 to 1.5 g/kg per day for adults over 65. Healthy older adults should aim for at least 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg, while those dealing with acute or chronic illness benefit from 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg. This is a meaningful increase over the standard RDA. A 160-pound older adult would need 73 to 87 grams daily at the healthy baseline, compared to just 58 grams under the general RDA.
Protein During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Protein needs rise to about 1.1 g/kg per day during pregnancy and lactation, up from the standard 0.8 g/kg. In absolute terms, the target is roughly 71 grams per day, compared to 46 grams for non-pregnant adults. This additional protein supports fetal growth, placental development, and increased blood volume during pregnancy, then milk production afterward. Most people can meet this by adding one or two extra protein-rich servings to their usual meals.
How to Spread Protein Across Meals
Your body can only use so much protein at once for muscle repair. Research on the “leucine trigger” suggests that each meal needs to contain enough of the amino acid leucine to flip the switch on muscle protein synthesis. For younger adults, about 20 to 25 grams of high-quality protein per meal (containing roughly 2 to 2.5 grams of leucine) is enough. Older adults need a higher threshold, closer to 30 to 40 grams per meal, to overcome anabolic resistance. Studies show that 20 grams of protein provides only about 2 grams of leucine, which falls short of the roughly 3 grams older adults need for a full muscle-building response.
The practical takeaway: rather than eating a small amount of protein at breakfast and lunch and loading up at dinner, distribute your intake relatively evenly across three or four meals. If your target is 120 grams, aim for 30 to 40 grams at each of three meals rather than 10 grams at breakfast and 80 grams at dinner.
Is Too Much Protein Dangerous?
For people with healthy kidneys, protein intakes up to about 1.6 g/kg per day are well studied and consistently show no adverse effects. Research on energy-restricted diets has found that up to 1.66 g/kg per day poses no measurable health risk, and trials at 25% to 30% of total calories from protein for 10 to 12 weeks have shown the same.
Higher protein does create more work for your kidneys, which filter the byproducts of protein metabolism. In healthy people, the kidneys handle this without trouble. The concern becomes real if you have existing kidney disease, high blood pressure, or a family history of kidney problems. In those cases, a significant increase in protein intake is worth discussing with a doctor first. Very high intakes, well above 2 g/kg, may increase inflammation and oxidative stress even in healthy individuals, so more is not always better.
Quick Reference by Body Weight
Here are sample daily protein targets at different body weights, using common intake levels:
- 130 lbs (59 kg): 47 g (minimum), 71 g (active), 89 g (muscle building)
- 150 lbs (68 kg): 54 g (minimum), 82 g (active), 102 g (muscle building)
- 180 lbs (82 kg): 65 g (minimum), 98 g (active), 123 g (muscle building)
- 200 lbs (91 kg): 73 g (minimum), 109 g (active), 136 g (muscle building)
- 220 lbs (100 kg): 80 g (minimum), 120 g (active), 150 g (muscle building)
These use 0.8 g/kg for the minimum, 1.2 g/kg for active adults, and 1.5 g/kg for muscle building. Pick the column that matches your lifestyle, and you have a solid starting point without needing a calculator at all.