Protein Intake Calculator

The 0.8 g/kg figure is the RDA the IOM set in 2005 as the minimum to prevent deficiency in sedentary adults, not the optimum for active people. The 2017 ISSN position stand on protein and exercise, plus the 2018 Morton meta-analysis (49 trials, 1,863 subjects) in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, both converge on 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg for adults who train regularly or want to preserve lean mass while losing weight. The calculator defaults to the RDA only for the general-health goal at a sedentary activity level. Pick weight-loss, muscle-gain, strength, or even endurance and the multiplier roughly doubles, which lines up with current sports-nutrition consensus.

Older adults may need more protein to support muscle because the muscle-protein response to a meal can be lower with age. For healthy older adults, the PROT-AGE group recommends 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg per day and often 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg for those with acute or chronic illness, with individual adjustment for disease and kidney function. The calculator's higher preservation preset is a planning range, not a universal prescription.

Total daily protein matters most. The 2013 Aragon and Schoenfeld review and the 2017 ISSN position stand agree that hitting your daily target is the single biggest lever. Distribution is a smaller second-order effect: spreading protein across 3 to 5 meals of roughly 0.4 g/kg each (about 25 to 40 g per meal for most adults) keeps MPS elevated more often than one large bolus, and is the rationale for the 4-meal default this calculator uses. The much-hyped "30 minute anabolic window" after training has not held up in rigorous trials. As long as you eat protein within a few hours either side of a workout, the timing details rarely make a measurable difference.

Available trials have not shown kidney-function harm from higher-protein diets in healthy adults over the periods studied, but that does not prove every intake is risk-free over a lifetime. Kidney disease, diabetes with albuminuria, a single kidney, pregnancy, and other conditions can change the appropriate target. Ask a clinician or registered dietitian before increasing protein when any of those apply.

A 4 oz (113 g) cooked chicken breast has about 30 g of protein. A 4 oz cooked salmon fillet has about 25 g, a 4 oz lean ground beef patty about 28 g, a large egg about 6 g, a cup of Greek yogurt about 17 to 22 g, a cup of cottage cheese about 24 g, a cup of cooked lentils about 18 g, a cup of edamame about 17 g, and a typical scoop of whey isolate about 25 g. So a per-meal target of 30 g translates to one palm-sized portion of fish, poultry, or lean meat, or a Greek yogurt plus an egg, or a cup of lentils plus a handful of nuts. The full USDA FoodData Central database at fdc.nal.usda.gov lists per-100-g values for thousands of foods if you want exact numbers.