Protein Calculator
Calculate your optimal daily protein intake based on your body weight, activity level, and fitness goals. Get personalized per-meal protein targets to maximize muscle protein synthesis.
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Fill out the form on the left and click "Calculate Protein Intake" to see your personalized protein recommendations.
Protein Intake Guide
Protein is the most important macronutrient for building and maintaining muscle mass. Your optimal protein intake depends on your body weight, activity level, and fitness goals. This calculator uses evidence-based recommendations from sports nutrition research.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
The key threshold: 1.6 g/kg/day. A large meta-analysis confirmed that beyond ~1.6 g/kg/day (up to ~2.2 g/kg/day), additional protein provides greatly diminishing returns for muscle gain. There's no harm in going higher, but the marginal benefit shrinks fast.
Sedentary individuals: 1.2g per kg of bodyweight is sufficient for general health and maintenance.
Active individuals: 1.6-2.2g per kg covers most recreational and competitive athletes.
During a cut: 2.3-3.1g per kg is recommended during energy restriction (Stokes et al.) to preserve lean mass — especially for leaner, more trained individuals who are more susceptible to muscle loss in a deficit.
Total Daily Protein Comes First
Total daily protein intake is the primary determinant of long-term hypertrophy. Meal timing and distribution can help optimize muscle protein synthesis acutely, but they are secondary to hitting your daily total. Don't stress timing if your total intake isn't dialed in first.
Meal Distribution (Secondary Optimization)
Leucine is the primary driver of the muscle protein synthesis (MPS) response. Each meal should contain enough protein to reach the leucine threshold — roughly ~0.3g of protein per kg of bodyweight from a high-quality source. For a larger individual, the commonly cited "20-40g per meal" rule may underestimate their needs.
MPS peaks around 2 hours after a protein dose and returns to baseline after ~3 hours despite sustained amino acid levels (the "muscle-full" effect). Spacing protein meals 3-5 hours apart maximizes MPS across the day.
Note: most per-meal data comes from isolated protein boluses in lab settings. Mixed macronutrient meals behave differently and may shift the saturation ceiling.
Goal-Based Adjustments
Cutting (fat loss): Research recommends 2.3-3.1 g/kg/day during energy restriction to preserve lean muscle mass. This is a substantial increase from maintenance — the leaner and more trained you are, the more important this becomes.
Maintaining: Hit at least 1.6 g/kg/day. Most active lifters do well around 2.0 g/kg.
Bulking (muscle gain): A modest increase of +0.1g/kg above maintenance supports additional muscle protein synthesis during a caloric surplus. In a surplus, protein needs are actually lower than during a cut.
Bottom line: Hit ~1.6 g/kg/day minimum for maintenance and training. Push toward 2.3+ g/kg/day if you're in a deficit trying to hold muscle. Total daily intake matters most — optimize distribution after that's covered.