How Much Protein Per Day? A Simple Guide by Goal and Age

For most healthy adults, the baseline is about 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (about 0.36 g per pound), which works out to roughly 55 to 60 g for a 70 kg person. That number is a minimum to avoid falling short, not an ideal. If you exercise regularly, are trying to lose fat, or are over 65, research suggests you will usually do better with somewhere between 1.0 and 2.0 g/kg, depending on your situation.

Below you will find how much protein per day makes sense for your goal, how to turn that into grams, and what it looks like on a real plate.

How much protein per day do you need? The short answer

Official reference values are built to cover the needs of almost everyone in a healthy population:

• United States: the National Academy of Medicine recommends a minimum of 0.8 g per kg of body weight per day for adults, as summarised by Harvard’s Nutrition Source.
• Europe: the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set a population reference intake of 0.83 g per kg per day for adults, including older adults.

These values are designed to prevent deficiency. They were not designed to maximise muscle gain, protect muscle during a diet, or keep you full while eating less. That is where the higher ranges from sports nutrition and weight-loss research come in.

Protein needs by goal

Situation	Typical range (g per kg per day)	For a 70 kg person
Healthy adult, mostly sedentary	0.8 to 0.83	about 56 to 58 g
Adults over 65	at least 1.0 to 1.2	about 70 to 84 g
Losing weight (calorie deficit)	about 1.2 to 1.6	about 84 to 112 g
Regular strength or endurance training	about 1.4 to 2.0	about 98 to 140 g

If you are active or lifting weights

The International Society of Sports Nutrition concludes that 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg per day is sufficient for most exercising people to build and maintain muscle. A large meta-analysis of resistance training studies (Morton and colleagues, 2018) found that extra protein stopped adding measurable gains in fat-free mass at around 1.6 g/kg per day, with a fairly wide uncertainty band (roughly 1.0 to 2.2 g/kg). In practice, about 1.6 g/kg is a sensible target for most people who train, and going far beyond it rarely adds much.

If you are trying to lose weight

When you eat fewer calories than you burn, your body can lose muscle as well as fat. A review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Leidy and colleagues, 2015) concluded that higher-protein diets of about 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg per day, ideally with around 25 to 30 g of protein per meal, can help with appetite, body weight management and cardiometabolic risk factors. The authors also noted a modest effect on fullness and that the benefits depend heavily on actually sticking to the plan.

Protein does not make a deficit work by itself. The calorie balance still does the heavy lifting; protein helps you keep more muscle and feel less hungry while you get there. If you are new to this, our guide to the calorie deficit explains the basics, and macros for weight loss shows how protein fits with carbs and fat.

If you are over 65

Older muscles respond less strongly to protein. The PROT-AGE study group, convened by European geriatric societies, recommends that people over 65 get at least 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg per day, 1.2 g/kg or more if they are active, and 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg for many older adults with acute or chronic illness. The important exception is severe kidney disease, discussed below.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

EFSA adds about 1 g, 9 g and 28 g of protein per day on top of the normal requirement in the first, second and third trimesters, and about 19 g per day during the first six months of breastfeeding (13 g per day after that). Your midwife, doctor or a registered dietitian can help you fit this into your overall plan.

How to calculate your protein target

The simplest method uses your body weight in kilograms:

Protein (g per day) = body weight (kg) × your target (g/kg)

Worked example

Take someone who weighs 70 kg (about 154 lb), trains three times a week and wants to lose some fat:

• Minimum reference: 70 × 0.8 = 56 g
• Weight-loss range: 70 × 1.2 = 84 g, and 70 × 1.6 = 112 g, so about 84 to 112 g
• A middle target of 1.4 g/kg: 70 × 1.4 = 98 g, or roughly 100 g a day

Spread over three meals, 100 g is about 33 g per meal. Over three meals plus a snack, it is about 25 g each time.

A note if you carry a lot of excess weight: multiplying your full current weight by 1.6 or 2.0 can produce numbers that are hard to eat and not really necessary. Using a realistic goal weight in the formula is a common, practical workaround, and a registered dietitian can help you pick a sensible reference weight.

In PixNutri, the protein goal is set from your weight in the same way: 1.4 g/kg if you want to maintain, and 1.8 g/kg if you want to lose or gain. That sits inside the range the sports nutrition research supports for active people. If you are not training at all, the lower end of the ranges above is usually enough.

What 100 g of protein looks like in a day

Here is one example using food composition data from the USDA FoodData Central database (values vary by brand and recipe):

Meal	Food	Protein
Breakfast	200 g low-fat Greek yogurt + 40 g oats	about 25 g
Lunch	120 g roasted chicken breast	about 37 g
Snack	150 g low-fat cottage cheese	about 19 g
Dinner	200 g cooked lentils	about 18 g
Total		about 99 g

Other foods in those meals (bread, vegetables, a glass of milk) add a few more grams. The point is that a higher-protein day does not need shakes or special products, just a decent protein source at each meal.

Protein in common foods (per 100 g)

• Cooked chicken breast: about 31 g
• Canned light tuna in water, drained: about 25 g
• Firm tofu: about 9 to 17 g, depending on how firm it is
• Whole egg: about 12.6 g (a large egg of about 50 g gives roughly 6 g)
• Low-fat cottage cheese: about 10 to 12 g
• Greek yogurt, plain: about 10 g
• Cooked lentils or black beans: about 9 g
• Rolled oats (dry): about 13 g

Spread it out across the day

Many people eat little protein at breakfast and most of it at dinner. The ISSN position stand suggests about 0.25 g/kg of high-quality protein per meal, or roughly 20 to 40 g, spaced every 3 to 4 hours. For a 70 kg person that is about 18 g per meal at minimum, so 20 to 30 g is a practical target. If breakfast is your weak spot, our list of high-protein breakfast ideas has options with 20 to 30 g each.

Animal or plant protein?

Both can meet your needs. Harvard’s Nutrition Source notes that meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy tend to be good sources of complete protein, while many plant foods lack one or more essential amino acids; eating a variety of protein-rich plant foods each day (legumes, soy foods, nuts, seeds, whole grains) covers the gap. For long-term health, the “package” that comes with the protein matters most: choosing beans, nuts, fish or poultry in place of red and processed meat is linked to a lower risk of several diseases.

Is too much protein harmful?

For healthy adults, intakes in the ranges above are widely used in research without clear harm. The ISSN notes that studies of higher intakes did not show adverse effects on markers of kidney and liver function in healthy, exercising people. That does not apply to everyone:

• If you have kidney disease or reduced kidney function, protein may need to be limited. Harvard notes that people with kidney or liver disease should follow their doctor’s guidance, and PROT-AGE makes an exception for older people with severe kidney disease who are not on dialysis.
• If you have diabetes, take medication that affects your kidneys, are pregnant, or are under 18, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian before raising protein significantly.

Very high protein intakes can also crowd out fibre-rich foods like whole grains, fruit and vegetables. Aim for your target, not for as much as possible.

A practical checklist

• Work out your number: body weight (kg) × 0.8 for the minimum, × 1.2 to 1.6 if you are losing weight, × 1.4 to 2.0 if you train regularly.
• Split it into 3 to 4 meals of about 20 to 40 g each.
• Put a protein source on every plate: eggs, dairy, fish, poultry, legumes, tofu.
• Check your first week honestly. Most people guess wrong in one direction or the other.

Logging for a few days is the fastest way to see where you actually stand. With PixNutri you can snap a photo of a meal and get an estimate of its protein, calories, carbs, fat and fibre; it is an estimate, so it is worth checking the values and adjusting the portion if the plate was bigger or smaller than it looks.

FAQ

How much protein do I need per day to lose weight?

Research on weight loss suggests about 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg of body weight per day, combined with a moderate calorie deficit. For a 70 kg person that is about 84 to 112 g a day.

Is 100 g of protein a day too much?

For most healthy adults, no. It equals about 1.4 g/kg for a 70 kg person, which is within the ranges used in research. If you have kidney disease, check with your doctor first.

How much protein per day to build muscle?

Most people who do strength training benefit from about 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg per day. Gains in muscle tend to level off at around 1.6 g/kg in studies, alongside consistent training.

How much protein can you absorb in one meal?

Your body absorbs almost all the protein you eat. The more useful question is how much stimulates muscle building per meal: guidance suggests about 20 to 40 g, or roughly 0.25 g/kg, spread across the day.

Do older adults need more protein?

Yes, most likely. Experts on ageing recommend at least 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg per day for people over 65, and more if they are active or recovering from illness, unless they have severe kidney disease.