Most healthy adults need at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, which works out to about 0.36 grams per pound. For a 150-pound person, that’s roughly 54 grams. For a 180-pound person, about 65 grams. But that number is a floor, not a target. It represents the minimum to prevent deficiency, and a growing body of evidence suggests most people benefit from eating more.
The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans now suggest adults aim for 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram per day, a notable jump from the old baseline. Where you fall in that range (or above it) depends on your age, activity level, whether you’re trying to lose weight, and whether you’re pregnant or nursing.
The Baseline for Healthy Adults
The RDA of 0.8 g/kg/day was designed to meet the needs of 97.5% of healthy, sedentary adults. In practical terms, that means a 140-pound person needs about 51 grams, and a 200-pound person needs about 73 grams. Federal guidelines also frame protein as a percentage of total calories: for adults 19 and older, protein should make up 10% to 35% of daily energy intake. On a 2,000-calorie diet, 10% is just 50 grams, while 35% is 175 grams.
Most Americans already hit the RDA without trying. The real question is whether the RDA is enough for optimal health, and many nutrition researchers now say it isn’t. The updated Dietary Guidelines reflect this shift, recommending 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg/day as a more appropriate everyday range.
How Exercise Changes Your Needs
If you strength train regularly, your protein needs are roughly double the RDA. Consensus statements from major sports nutrition organizations, including the International Society of Sports Nutrition and the American College of Sports Medicine, recommend 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg/day for most athletes. Within that range, the specifics matter.
Resistance-trained individuals aiming to build muscle typically benefit from 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg/day. For a 170-pound person, that’s 123 to 170 grams daily. Endurance athletes, such as runners and cyclists, generally need 1.4 to 1.8 g/kg/day to offset the amino acids burned during prolonged activity.
If you’re dieting while training, protein needs climb even higher. Research published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism recommends 1.6 to 2.4 g/kg/day during a caloric deficit to protect lean muscle mass. Going above 2.4 g/kg/day doesn’t appear to offer additional muscle-sparing benefits.
Why Older Adults Need More
Nearly half of all protein in your body is found in muscle, and muscle mass naturally declines with age. This process, called sarcopenia, accelerates after 60 and is a major contributor to falls, fractures, and loss of independence. The official RDA for older adults is the same 0.8 g/kg/day as for younger people, but researchers who study aging now consider that inadequate.
Current expert recommendations for adults over 65 call for 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg/day. For a 160-pound older adult, that’s 73 to 87 grams daily. Older adults who exercise or are recovering from illness or injury may need even more, in the range of 1.6 to 1.9 g/kg/day.
Per-meal targets also shift with age. Younger adults can stimulate muscle repair with about 25 grams of protein in a sitting, but older adults need closer to 30 to 45 grams per meal to get the same response. This matters because many older adults eat very little protein at breakfast and lunch, then load up at dinner, a pattern that’s less effective for maintaining muscle.
Protein During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Protein needs increase during pregnancy, but the increase is small in the first trimester and grows substantially by the third. In the first trimester, you need only about 1 extra gram per day above your normal intake. By the second trimester, that rises to roughly 9 additional grams. In the third trimester, you need an extra 28 to 31 grams daily, bringing many women’s total to around 75 to 100 grams per day depending on body weight.
During breastfeeding, the added requirement is about 19 grams per day for the first six months of exclusive nursing, tapering to around 13 grams per day after that. Some guidelines express this as 1.1 to 1.2 g/kg/day total.
Spreading Protein Across the Day
Your body can only use so much protein at once for muscle repair. Research shows that muscle protein synthesis rises with increasing protein intake up to a point, then plateaus. That ceiling sits at roughly 30 grams per meal for most adults and closer to 40 to 45 grams for older adults or larger individuals.
This means eating 10 grams at breakfast, 15 grams at lunch, and 50 grams at dinner is less effective than distributing protein more evenly. A study in energy-restricted older men found that splitting 75 grams of protein into three equal doses stimulated muscle repair more effectively than the typical skewed pattern. Aiming for three to four meals, each containing 25 to 40 grams of protein, is a practical approach for most people.
What Counts as High-Protein Food
Knowing your target number is only useful if you can translate it into actual meals. Here’s what common protein sources deliver per serving:
- Chicken (dark meat, cooked): about 40 g per cup
- Beef (top round, cooked): about 29 g per 3 oz
- Turkey breast (cooked): about 26 g per 3 oz
- Salmon (cooked): about 23 g per 3 oz
- Tuna (cooked): about 24 g per 3 oz
- Tofu (firm): about 22 g per half cup
- Black beans (dry): about 42 g per cup
- Cheddar cheese: about 30 g per cup diced
- Pumpkin seeds (roasted): about 35 g per cup
- Almonds (dry roasted): about 29 g per cup
- Eggs: about 6 g per large egg
- Milk: about 8 g per cup
- Yogurt (plain, low-fat): about 9 g per 6 oz container
- Peanut butter: about 8 g per 2 tablespoons
- Whey protein powder: about 25 to 50 g per scoop depending on brand
A 3-ounce portion of meat is roughly the size of a deck of cards. Most restaurant servings are 6 to 8 ounces, so a typical chicken breast at dinner easily delivers 40 to 50 grams. Hitting 100 grams a day is straightforward with a combination of animal and plant sources: eggs and yogurt at breakfast, a chicken or bean-based lunch, and fish or tofu at dinner gets most people there without supplements.
When More Protein Could Be Harmful
For people with healthy kidneys, higher protein intakes within the ranges discussed here are generally safe. There’s no strong evidence that intakes up to 2.0 g/kg/day cause kidney damage in healthy individuals. However, people with chronic kidney disease have traditionally been advised to limit protein to slow disease progression, since the kidneys must work harder to filter protein’s byproducts.
Interestingly, newer research has complicated this picture. A large study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases found that among people with mild to moderate kidney disease, protein intakes above 0.8 g/kg/day were actually associated with lower mortality risk, about an 8% decrease for every additional 0.2 g/kg/day. But the study included very few people with advanced kidney disease, so those findings don’t apply to later stages. If you have any degree of kidney disease, your protein target is a conversation to have with your care team, because the optimal amount depends heavily on how much kidney function remains.
Quick Reference by Life Stage
- Sedentary adults (minimum): 0.8 g/kg/day
- General adult recommendation: 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg/day
- Adults over 65: 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg/day (more if active)
- Endurance athletes: 1.4 to 1.8 g/kg/day
- Strength athletes: 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg/day
- During weight loss with exercise: 1.6 to 2.4 g/kg/day
- Third trimester of pregnancy: add ~28 to 31 g/day above baseline
- Breastfeeding (first 6 months): add ~19 g/day above baseline
To find your number, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get kilograms, then multiply by the g/kg figure that fits your situation. A 160-pound person weighs about 73 kg, so at 1.2 g/kg that’s 87 grams, and at 1.6 g/kg that’s 116 grams.