Protein recommendations are published in grams per kilogram of bodyweight, which is useless at the supermarket. This table converts every common target into the number you actually need: total grams per day, for your weight, for your goal.
The table
Find your bodyweight in the left column and read across to the goal that matches yours. Figures are grams of protein per day, rounded to the nearest five.
| Bodyweight |
0.8 g/kg Sedentary minimum (RDA) |
1.2 g/kg Active, general health |
1.6 g/kg Muscle gain |
2.0 g/kg Fat loss, resistance trained |
2.4 g/kg Aggressive cut, lean and trained |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 kg / 99 lb | 35 g | 55 g | 70 g | 90 g | 110 g |
| 50 kg / 110 lb | 40 g | 60 g | 80 g | 100 g | 120 g |
| 55 kg / 121 lb | 45 g | 65 g | 90 g | 110 g | 130 g |
| 60 kg / 132 lb | 50 g | 70 g | 95 g | 120 g | 145 g |
| 65 kg / 143 lb | 50 g | 80 g | 105 g | 130 g | 155 g |
| 70 kg / 154 lb | 55 g | 85 g | 110 g | 140 g | 170 g |
| 75 kg / 165 lb | 60 g | 90 g | 120 g | 150 g | 180 g |
| 80 kg / 176 lb | 65 g | 95 g | 130 g | 160 g | 190 g |
| 85 kg / 187 lb | 70 g | 100 g | 135 g | 170 g | 205 g |
| 90 kg / 198 lb | 70 g | 110 g | 145 g | 180 g | 215 g |
| 95 kg / 209 lb | 75 g | 115 g | 150 g | 190 g | 230 g |
| 100 kg / 220 lb | 80 g | 120 g | 160 g | 200 g | 240 g |
| 110 kg / 243 lb | 90 g | 130 g | 175 g | 220 g | 265 g |
| 120 kg / 265 lb | 95 g | 145 g | 190 g | 240 g | 290 g |
| 125 kg / 276 lb | 100 g | 150 g | 200 g | 250 g | 300 g |
Figures are grams of protein per day, rounded to the nearest five. If you carry a lot of body fat, base the calculation on a target weight or on lean mass rather than current weight — fat tissue has almost no protein requirement.
What each target is for
0.8 g/kg — the floor, not a goal
This is the Recommended Dietary Allowance, and it is widely misread. The RDA is the amount that prevents deficiency in a sedentary adult — the intake at which you do not lose nitrogen. It was never intended as the amount that optimises muscle retention, satiety, or body composition, and essentially no sports nutrition body recommends it for people who train.
1.2–1.4 g/kg — active without a body composition goal
If you exercise a few times a week and your goal is health rather than physique, this range is comfortable and well supported. It is also roughly what people eating a varied diet with protein at each meal tend to land on without trying.
1.6 g/kg — muscle gain
The 2018 meta-analysis by Morton and colleagues, pooling 49 studies and around 1,900 participants, found that protein intake improved lean mass gains from resistance training up to approximately 1.6 g/kg per day, with no reliable additional benefit beyond that point. Their confidence interval extended to 2.2 g/kg, which is why many practitioners advise eating toward the upper end as insurance. Below roughly 1.6 g/kg you are likely leaving gains on the table; far above it, you are mostly buying expensive certainty.
1.8–2.2 g/kg — fat loss while resistance training
Protein requirements go up in a deficit, not down. When energy is restricted, some amino acids are diverted to fuel, muscle protein synthesis is blunted, and the risk of losing lean tissue alongside fat rises. Higher protein also does two useful practical things: it is the most satiating macronutrient per calorie, and it carries the highest thermic effect, with roughly 20 to 30 percent of its energy spent on digestion versus about 5 to 10 percent for carbohydrate.
2.3–3.1 g/kg of lean mass — aggressive cuts in lean, trained people
Helms and colleagues proposed this range for resistance-trained athletes dieting toward very low body fat. Note the denominator: this recommendation is per kilogram of fat-free mass, not total bodyweight, and it applies to a narrow population — already-lean people in a steep deficit trying to protect hard-won muscle. For most readers it is more protein than is useful.
1.2–1.6 g/kg — adults over 60
Older muscle is less responsive to a given dose of protein, a phenomenon usually called anabolic resistance. The practical response is both more protein overall and more per meal — a larger per-sitting dose is needed to trigger the same synthetic response. The PROT-AGE study group’s recommendation of 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg for healthy older adults, higher for those who are ill or training, reflects this.
Should you use bodyweight or lean mass?
Per-kilogram recommendations were derived mostly from people of unremarkable body composition, so for the majority of readers total bodyweight works fine. It breaks down at higher body fat percentages, because fat tissue has little protein demand. A 130 kg person at 40 percent body fat multiplying by 2.0 g/kg arrives at 260 g per day, which is neither necessary nor pleasant to eat.
Two workable fixes: calculate from your goal weight instead of your current weight, or estimate lean body mass with our body fat calculator and multiply that by 2.0 to 2.5 g/kg. The two approaches usually land within a few grams of each other.
Distribution across the day
Total daily protein is the variable that matters most, and it is not close. Distribution is a second-order refinement, but a real one: each meal appears to stimulate muscle protein synthesis up to a ceiling of roughly 0.4 g/kg per sitting, so three to five meals containing 25 to 40 g of protein each is a more effective pattern than 20 g at breakfast and 100 g at dinner. If you eat once or twice a day and are hitting your total, the difference is small enough not to lose sleep over.
Is high protein safe?
In people with healthy kidneys, sustained intakes in the 2 to 3 g/kg range have not been shown to impair renal function in controlled trials, some running over a year. The frequently repeated concern about protein and kidney damage comes from research on people with pre-existing renal disease, for whom protein restriction is a genuine clinical intervention. If you have any kidney condition, this table is not for you — talk to your doctor, and read our medical disclaimer.
Sources
- Morton RW et al. (2018). Systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of protein supplementation and resistance training. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
- Jäger R et al. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
- Helms ER et al. (2014). Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
- Bauer J et al. (2013). PROT-AGE Study Group recommendations for protein intake in older people. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
Last reviewed: September 2026.