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Is 200 g of protein a day too much?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 14, 20267 sources

For most people, yes, it’s more than they need. At 180 lb, 200 g is 2.4 g per kg, past the point where extra protein stopped adding muscle in the trials. Healthy kidneys showed no harm in the studies we have, but they were short. It makes sense for people over about 275 lb and for lean lifters on a hard diet.

200 g comes from the gym. It’s the classic bodybuilder number, and it’s what 1 g per pound gives a 200 lb lifter. It spread because it’s simple, and because more sounds safer when you’re trying to build something.

We’d keep 200 g for the people it fits and skip it otherwise. For a 180 lb person who lifts a couple of times a week, 100 to 130 g does the muscle work, and the other 70 to 100 g is mostly expensive calories.

Where 200 g lands at your weight

200 g only comes inside the typical range at about 275 lb and up. Is my number enough? shows it for your weight, as meals and as food. At 180 lb it’s about five 4 oz cooked chicken breasts, a Greek yogurt and two eggs.

When 200 g has earned its place

The best case for it is a 2016 trial. Researchers put 40 young men on 40% fewer calories for four weeks, with hard lifting and intervals six days a week. Half ate 2.4 g of protein per kg, which is 200 g at 180 lb. They gained 2.6 lb (1.2 kg) of lean mass and lost 10.6 lb (4.8 kg) of fat. The half on 1.2 g per kg gained 0.2 lb (0.1 kg) of lean mass and lost 7.7 lb (3.5 kg) of fat. That’s a big difference, but it was four weeks of a very hard diet and very hard training, in young men.

A 2014 review found the same for lean lifters on a diet: 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg of lean mass. For a 180 lb man at 12% bodyfat that’s about 165 to 225 g. Add your bodyfat in the daily range calculator to see your own.

Outside a hard diet, the gains stop earlier. In a 2018 review of 49 trials, extra muscle from protein leveled off at about 1.6 g per kg, with an uncertain range up to 2.2. 200 g at 180 lb is past both.

What it costs

200 g of protein is 800 calories, at 4 calories a gram (USDA). On a 2,000 calorie day that’s 40%, which is over the top of the acceptable range of 10 to 35% of calories in the US tables. On a 2,500 calorie day it’s 32%. At that level, protein leaves a lot less room for everything else on the plate.

Eating 200 g when you need 120 is like running the dishwasher for two plates. It works, and most of what you paid for went down the drain.

The report behind the 2025 to 2030 guidelines gives one upper line. It says diets above 3.4 g per kg a day should be avoided because they may lower testosterone in men. That’s about 280 g at 180 lb, well above 200.

What about the kidneys?

In 22 trials in adults without kidney disease, high-protein diets raised the filtering rate (eGFR) and didn’t change creatinine, with no consistent sign of injury. Most of those trials lasted weeks to months. If you have kidney disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, ask your doctor before going this high, and see protein with kidney disease.

For the rule behind the number, see the myth that you need 1 g per pound.