The guide

Daily protein intake by age, goal and body size

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 202615 sources

Most adults need 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day. That’s about 75 to 100 g at 140 lb, 100 to 130 g at 180 lb and 120 to 160 g at 220 lb. Under 1.2 is too low. Count from today’s weight, unless you have more than a fifth of it to lose.

Why does 0.8 g per kg still show up everywhere?

The 0.8 g per kg number has been around a long time, and it’s still the recommended daily amount (RDA) in the National Academies’ tables. That’s 56 g a day for a man and 46 g for a woman at the reference weights. Many health sites, apps and articles still treat it as the target.

The RDA was set to cover the basic needs of nearly all healthy adults. The average need in those same tables is lower still, 0.66 g per kg. Both describe the amount that covers basic needs, and the newer research on muscle, dieting and age points higher.

The US Dietary Guidelines changed that in January 2026. They now set protein goals of “1.2–1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day”, and say to put protein at every meal. The report behind them notes there’s no upper limit for protein, and that active people should aim for the top of the range, 1.4 to 1.6.

Most people still fall short. The report puts the average American adult at about 1 g per kg a day. In the latest national survey, adults ate about 77 g a day, and in an earlier analysis of the same survey, up to 46% of adults over 70 ate less than even 0.8.

The three ranges

These are the same three zones bodyfat.guide and tdee.guide use, so the same person gets the same grams on all three.

The bar is for a 180 lb adult. The marker is the average American adult’s day, 77 g, in the low zone for anyone this size.

The Gyroscope app personalizes yours. These ranges are here to show you if you’re too low, and many people are.

The third zone is for lean people who lift hard while they diet: 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg of lean mass, from a review of 6 studies of trained lifters cutting. At 180 lb and 15% bodyfat that’s about 160 to 215 g. It’s counted from lean mass because fat tissue barely needs protein. The losing weight section explains when it applies.

Which weight should you count from?

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 person at 250 lb aiming for 180 has 70 lb to lose, more than a fifth of 250. Their base is 180 plus 50, which is 230 lb, so their range is 125 to 165 g instead of 135 to 180. A person at 200 lb aiming for 170 has less than a fifth to lose, so they count from 200.

Here’s why. A protein range counted from total weight treats every pound the same, and a pound of fat needs almost none. At 300 lb, 1.6 g per kg of total weight is about 220 g, more than many lifters eat. Counting from the goal alone goes too far the other way, since the body you have today still has to be fed and kept. The goal plus a fifth sits in between, and it never jumps when you move your goal by a few pounds.

Protein intake by age

The US reference intakes, the RDAs, change with age until 19 and then stay flat for life. They’re floors that cover basic needs, set by the National Academies in 2005.

For adults, the typical range of 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg holds at every age. Age changes the meal more than the day. In pooled lab studies, muscle building after one meal leveled off at about 0.24 g per kg in men around 22 and 0.40 in men around 71, so older muscle needs a bigger meal. After 65, the PROT-AGE expert group asks for at least 1.0 to 1.2 g per kg a day. The after 50 section has the details.

Under 18, the ranges and calculators on this site don’t apply, since they’re built for adults. Teens grow on the RDA in the table, and a pediatrician is the person to ask about more. Who sets their own number has the resources for teens and parents.

What the lifting trials say

If you lift, you’ve heard 1 g per pound. That’s 2.2 g per kg, and it’s more than most people need.

In 2018, researchers at McMaster University pooled 49 lifting trials with 1,863 people. Extra protein added muscle, but the gains stopped rising at about 1.62 g per kg a day. The uncertainty around that point was wide, from 1.03 to 2.20, so the authors suggested about 2.2 for people trying to build all the muscle they can.

The gram per pound matches the top end of that uncertainty. For most people who lift, 1.6 g per kg (about 0.7 g per pound) is where the trials stopped finding more muscle. A 2022 review of 74 trials agrees that lifters under 65 gained more at 1.6 or above, but its top group was “1.6 or more”, so it can’t say whether more helps past 1.6.

Lean lifters on a diet are the one group where higher numbers have a clear case. The 1 g per pound myth goes through it.

Is the new guideline right?

Some nutrition scientists think the guideline overreached. In a 2026 commentary in the Journal of Nutrition, six researchers wrote that the range rests on a quick review of trials focused on weight loss, and gives too little attention to protein and long-term disease, from heart disease to kidney disease and cancer.

They have a point about the evidence. Most of the trials behind 1.2 to 1.6 were in adults losing weight. But the range lines up with the other evidence too. Lifters stopped gaining past about 1.6. Experts in older adults ask for at least 1.0 to 1.2 after 65. And the kidney trials in healthy adults found no harm at these amounts.

We think the range is right as a typical range, with the low end as the number to reach. Going higher is mostly about calories and cost, which is why the is my number enough? calculator shows both.

Why per kg and not percent of calories?

The National Academies also give protein as a share of calories, 10 to 35%. That band is so wide it barely helps. At 1,500 calories, 10% is about 38 g. At 3,000 calories, 35% is about 260 g.

Your muscle doesn’t know how many calories you ate. It knows how much of it there is to feed, which is why the range follows body weight. On a diet the share goes up on its own, since the grams stay put while the calories drop. 100 g of protein is 400 calories, about a quarter of a 1,500 calorie day.

What your number looks like as food

A range in grams is hard to picture. The low end at 180 lb, about 100 g, is three large eggs, a 5.3 oz cup of nonfat Greek yogurt, 4 oz of grilled chicken breast, a cup of cooked lentils and half a cup of 1% cottage cheese. That’s about 101 g of protein in about 790 calories.

150 g is about four 4 oz cooked chicken breasts and a Greek yogurt. If that sounds like a lot of chicken, it’s because 150 g is more than most people need. It’s typical for someone between about 205 and 275 lb.