How Much Protein Should I Eat a Day?

How much protein should you eat a day? For most active people the honest answer is more than the standard guideline suggests. If you are training to build muscle, aim for roughly 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, which works out to about 0.7 to 1 gram per pound. That range is where the research on muscle growth consistently lands.

The trickier part is turning that range into a number you can actually hit at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Protein is also the macro your body most reliably turns into muscle, so it is worth targeting on purpose rather than leaving to chance. This guide breaks down how much protein you need by bodyweight and goal, the best foods to get there, and how to spread it across your day so your muscles get a steady supply.

The short answer: how much protein per day

Here is the quick version so you can stop guessing. A healthy adult who is not especially active needs only about 0.8 grams per kilogram to avoid a deficiency. If you lift weights and want to build muscle, that floor is far too low. Your muscles are rebuilt from the protein you eat, and hard training raises the amount they can put to good use.

For muscle growth, target 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day, or roughly 0.7 to 1 gram per pound. Most lifters do well landing near the middle of that range, around 1.8 to 2.0 g/kg, then adjusting based on results and appetite.

Why the RDA of 0.8 g/kg is a minimum, not a target

The government RDA of 0.8 grams per kilogram gets quoted everywhere, and it is widely misread. That figure is the amount needed to keep a mostly sedentary person from becoming deficient, which is a very different thing from the amount that helps you grow.

Think of it as the bare minimum to prevent a problem, similar to the least sleep you can survive on rather than the amount you thrive on. Building muscle is a performance goal, so it calls for a performance level of protein. Training breaks down muscle tissue, and rebuilding it bigger takes considerably more raw material than simply staying healthy.

How much protein per day by bodyweight

The cleanest way to set your target is to scale it to your bodyweight. Multiply your weight by the range above and you have a daily protein goal to aim for. Here is how that looks for two common bodyweights:

• A 70 kg (154 lb) person building muscle: about 112 to 154 grams of protein per day.
• A 90 kg (198 lb) person building muscle: about 144 to 198 grams of protein per day.

If you are carrying a lot of extra body fat, base the math on your target bodyweight rather than your current weight, so the number stays sensible. For most lean or moderately lean lifters, your current weight works fine as the starting point. A heavier, more muscular body has more tissue to maintain and repair, which is exactly why the target scales with the number on the scale.

How your goal changes the number

Your protein target shifts a little depending on what you are chasing. The overall range stays similar, but where you land inside it depends on your goal.

• Maintenance: around 1.4 to 1.8 g/kg is plenty to hold onto the muscle you have and recover well from training.
• Building muscle: aim for 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg in a slight calorie surplus, so you have both the material and the energy to grow.
• Losing fat while keeping muscle: push toward the top of the range, around 2.0 to 2.2 g/kg or a touch higher, because protein protects muscle in a deficit and keeps you full.

Notice that protein stays high whether you are gaining or losing. When you are cutting, it becomes even more important, since it is what stops your body from burning hard-earned muscle for fuel. It also has the highest satiety of any macro, so a high-protein plate helps control hunger while you eat fewer calories.

How to calculate your own protein target

You do not need a formula sheet for this. Two minutes of simple math gives you a number you can use every day.

1. Write down your bodyweight in kilograms or pounds.
2. For building muscle, multiply it by 1.6 to 2.2 (per kg) or 0.7 to 1 (per lb).
3. If you are unsure where to start, use the middle of the range, roughly 2 g/kg or 0.9 g/lb.
4. Divide that daily total by the number of meals you eat to get a simple per-meal target.

For example, an 80 kg lifter aiming for 2 g/kg needs 160 grams a day. Split across four meals, that is a very manageable 40 grams per plate. If mental math is not your thing, a protein calculator will do it for you in seconds.

The best high-protein foods and how much they deliver

Hitting your number is far easier when you know which foods pull their weight. These are the staples worth building your meals around, with rough amounts to guide you:

• Chicken breast: around 30 grams per palm-sized portion.
• Lean beef or turkey: around 25 grams per serving.
• Fish like salmon or tuna: around 22 to 25 grams per fillet or can.
• Eggs: around 6 grams each.
• Greek yogurt: around 15 to 20 grams per cup.
• Cottage cheese: around 12 to 14 grams per half cup.
• Tofu and legumes: around 10 to 20 grams per serving, a solid base for plant-based eaters.
• Whey protein: around 24 grams per scoop, the fastest shortcut on busy days.

Animal sources tend to be complete proteins, meaning they carry all the amino acids your muscles need. Plant-based eaters can hit the same targets by mixing sources like beans, grains, tofu, and soy across the day. Leaning on whole-food protein also tends to keep you fuller per calorie, which pays off on both a bulk and a cut.

How to spread protein across the day

When you eat protein matters a little, though not nearly as much as the daily total. Your body can only use so much at once to build muscle, so pooling it all into one giant dinner is less effective than spreading it out.

Aim for 20 to 40 grams of protein per meal across three to four meals. That range covers the amount most people can put toward muscle growth in one sitting, and it keeps a steady stream of amino acids flowing through the day.

A simple rhythm is protein at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and one snack. Anchor each meal with a protein source first, then build the carbs and fats around it. A slow-digesting option before bed, such as Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, can also feed recovery while you sleep.

Can you eat too much protein?

For healthy people, protein is remarkably safe, even at the higher end of these ranges. The common worry that high protein harms your kidneys traces back to advice meant for people who already have kidney disease, and it does not apply to healthy kidneys.

Research on active people eating 2 grams per kilogram and beyond has not shown harm to kidney or liver function. The real catch is diminishing returns, since muscle-building benefits tend to plateau past about 2.2 g/kg, so eating well beyond that mostly just fills you up. Balance the rest of your plate with enough carbs, healthy fats, water, and fiber, since a diet that is all protein leaves out fuel your training needs. If you have an existing kidney condition, check with your doctor before raising your intake.

How to actually hit your protein every day

Knowing your number is the easy part. The real challenge is hitting it consistently, day after day, without a spreadsheet and a food scale running your life.

This is where tracking earns its place. With Scoop, you log a meal by snapping a photo, speaking, typing, or scanning a barcode, and it counts the protein for you. Because Scoop is built for building muscle, it sets a protein-first daily target and shows how many grams you have left, so you always know your next move.

Log as you eat, keep a protein source in every meal, and let the running total guide your choices. Do that for a few weeks and hitting your target stops feeling like work and starts feeling automatic.