Get a daily protein target based on your body weight and goal — whether that's general health, building muscle, losing fat, or endurance training.
Aim for a midpoint of about — grams per day.
These are general guidelines based on body weight and activity, drawn from sports-nutrition research. Needs vary with age, health, and training, and people with kidney disease or other conditions should follow medical guidance. This tool is for educational purposes only and is not medical or dietary advice.
Protein needs scale with body weight and activity. The baseline recommendation for general health is about 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, but that's a minimum to prevent deficiency — not the amount that's optimal if you're active or trying to change your body composition.
People who train regularly do better on more: roughly 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram for general fitness, and 1.6 to 2.2 for building muscle. The calculator turns your weight and goal into a daily range and a suggested amount per meal.
To gain muscle you need both a training stimulus and enough protein to rebuild and add tissue. Research generally supports 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram per day for people doing resistance training, with little added benefit beyond that for most.
Total daily intake matters most, but spreading it across meals helps. Around 0.4 grams per kilogram per meal, or roughly 20 to 40 grams of high-quality protein per sitting, is a practical target to maximize muscle-building.
In a calorie deficit, higher protein helps you hold onto muscle while you lose fat, and it's the most filling macronutrient, which makes the diet easier to stick to. That's why the fat-loss range here is a bit higher, around 1.8 to 2.4 grams per kilogram.
The combination of preserving lean mass and curbing hunger is why protein is usually the first thing to get right when the goal is losing weight without losing strength.
Animal proteins — meat, fish, eggs, and dairy — are "complete," containing all essential amino acids and plenty of leucine, the amino acid that drives muscle building. Plant proteins can absolutely meet your needs too; you just combine sources (like beans with grains) and may aim slightly higher to cover the difference.
Spreading protein across the day, with a serving in each meal, generally beats loading it all into one sitting, especially for muscle goals.
For healthy people, the common worry that high protein damages the kidneys isn't supported by the evidence; healthy kidneys handle higher intakes fine. The main downsides of overdoing it are practical — crowding out other foods and spending more than you need.
People with existing kidney disease are the important exception and should follow their doctor's guidance. As always, more isn't automatically better past the ranges above.
It depends on weight and goal: about 0.8 g/kg for general health, 1.2–1.6 for active people, and 1.6–2.2 for building muscle. Enter your details above for a personal range.
Research supports roughly 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight daily, combined with resistance training. Spreading it across meals, about 20–40 g each, helps.
Yes. Combine sources like legumes, grains, soy, nuts, and seeds, and you may aim a little higher since some plant proteins are less complete. Meeting the daily total is what matters.
For healthy people, no — the evidence doesn't show harm from higher protein. People with kidney disease are an exception and should follow medical advice.
Total daily intake matters most, but distributing protein across several meals, rather than one large dose, modestly improves muscle building.