Should protein be based on goal weight or current weight?
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Use today’s weight, unless you have more than a fifth of it to lose. Then count from your goal plus a fifth of today’s weight. A 250 lb person aiming for 180 counts as 230 lb, which gives 125 to 165 g a day. The daily range calculator does this for you. The Gyroscope app personalizes yours.
Ask around and you’ll hear both answers with total confidence. Some calculators use your goal weight, some use what you weigh now, and the 2025 to 2030 US Dietary Guidelines don’t say which. The 2025 GLP-1 nutrition advisory from four US societies says outright that it’s unclear whether to use actual weight, an adjusted weight or lean mass. People end up picking whichever number they like better.
We use one rule across bodyfat.guide, tdee.guide and this site, so you get the same grams on all three. Count from today’s weight while the loss is modest. Once it’s big, count from a weight a little above your goal, so the number fits the body you’re heading to without shortchanging the one you have.
It’s like buying a kid’s shoes half a size up. They fit well enough now, and they’ll still fit for most of the year.
The three ways, side by side
| You | From today’s weight | From your goal | Our rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 lb, aiming for 170 | 110 to 145 g | 95 to 125 g | 110 to 145 g (today’s) |
| 210 lb, aiming for 160 | 115 to 150 g | 85 to 115 g | 110 to 145 g (from 202 lb) |
| 250 lb, aiming for 180 | 135 to 180 g | 100 to 130 g | 125 to 165 g (from 230 lb) |
| 300 lb, aiming for 200 | 165 to 220 g | 110 to 145 g | 140 to 190 g (from 260 lb) |
All at 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg, rounded to 5.
Why not just today’s weight?
At 300 lb, today’s weight gives 165 to 220 g. That’s a lot of food to eat on a diet, about as much protein as a lean lifter on a hard cut. A number that high tends to get ignored, and an ignored target does nothing.
Why not just the goal?
The goal can sit a long way off. A 250 lb person counting from 180 lands on 100 to 130 g, the same as someone who already weighs 180. Early in a big loss they’re carrying and moving a lot more body, and every pound lost takes some lean mass with it. Counting from the goal shortchanges the months when protein has the most to protect.
There’s a second problem. With a goal-based number, every time you move your goal, your protein jumps. Our rule changes smoothly, because a fifth of today’s weight is always added back.
How the rule works
Take a fifth of what you weigh today and add it to your goal. If that’s less than today’s weight, count from it. If not, count from today’s weight. Then multiply the weight in kg by 1.2 and 1.6.
For 250 lb aiming for 180: a fifth of 250 is 50, and 180 plus 50 is 230. 230 lb is about 104 kg, so the range is about 125 to 165 g.
When lean mass is the better ruler
For lean people who lift hard, lean mass is the better ruler, since it’s the part that needs the protein. A 2014 review found 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg of lean mass for lean lifters on a diet. Add your bodyfat percentage in the daily range calculator and it shows that range too. bodyfat.guide’s protein calculator gives the same numbers with your lean mass beside them.
On a GLP-1, the advisory also allows a flat 80 to 120 g a day. See protein on Ozempic or Mounjaro.
3 sources
- US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030, January 2026cdn.realfood.gov
- Mozaffarian et al., Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity: a joint advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association and The Obesity Society, 2025pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Helms et al., A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes, International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 2014pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
