You need 1 g of protein per pound
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Sort of. In a review of 49 lifting trials, extra muscle stopped showing up at about 1.6 g per kg a day, which is about 0.7 g per pound. One gram per pound sits at the top of that study’s uncertainty. It’s a fair number for lean people lifting hard on a diet, and more than most people need.
What we’d do
If you lift and you’re not dieting, aim for about 0.7 g per pound, the top of the typical range, and spend the rest of your effort on training and sleep. If you’re lean and cutting while you lift, 1 g per pound of body weight is about right, and we’d count it from your lean mass with the daily range calculator. If you have a lot of weight to lose, skip the gram per pound entirely, because it counts every pound of fat as if it needed feeding.
If you remember three things
- Gains leveled off near 0.7 g per pound in 49 lifting trials.
- 1 g per pound was the top of the uncertainty, and the authors suggested it for people chasing every bit of muscle.
- Lean lifters on a diet are the exception. For them 1 g per pound lands right in the range.
Why people believe it
It’s easy math. You weigh 180 lb, so you eat 180 g. Nobody needs a calculator, and it sounds strict enough to be serious. Every gym has someone who swears by it, and for some of those people it’s right.
The trouble is that it’s applied to everyone. A 180 lb person on the typical range eats 100 to 130 g a day. At 1 g per pound they’d eat 180 g, which is 50 to 80 g more. That’s 200 to 320 extra calories a day, about two more 4 oz chicken breasts, and a grocery bill to match. For someone at 250 lb trying to lose 70, it would be 250 g, far over their typical range of 125 to 165 g.
What the trials found
In 2018, a group at McMaster University pooled 49 trials where 1,863 people lifted weights for at least six weeks, some with extra protein and some without. The extra protein added muscle. Then the researchers looked for the point where more protein stopped adding more muscle.
They found it at 1.62 g per kg of body weight a day, about 0.73 g per pound. But the uncertainty around that point was wide, from 1.03 to 2.20 g per kg. The top of that range, 2.2 g per kg, is almost exactly 1 g per pound. The authors suggested about 2.2 “for those seeking to maximise” their gains, to be on the safe side.
The gram per pound has some science behind it, as the cautious top end of a range whose middle sits much lower.
49 lifting trials
1,863 people. Morton and colleagues, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018
Gains in lean mass leveled off at about 1.62 g per kg a day, with a 95% range of 1.03 to 2.20.
The level-off point itself was only borderline in their statistics.
74 trials
Nunes and colleagues, 2022
Lifters under 65 gained extra lean mass at 1.6 g per kg or more.
Its top group was “1.6 or more”, so it can’t show whether gains keep rising past 1.6.
Lean lifters on a diet
A review of 6 studies. Helms and colleagues, 2014
Trained lifters cutting calories need about 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg of lean mass, more the leaner they are and the harder they cut.
Small studies, mostly in young athletes.
Where 1 g per pound is right
Think of the gram per pound as a size large. It fits some people well and hangs loose on most.
The people it fits are lean and dieting hard while they lift. At 180 lb and 12% bodyfat, the lean-lifter range from the 2014 review comes to 165 to 225 g a day, or about 0.9 to 1.25 g per pound of body weight. A gram per pound lands in the middle of it.
The clearest trial is from 2016, also at McMaster. Forty young men ate 40% fewer calories than they needed for four weeks and trained six days a week. The group on 2.4 g per kg, a little over 1 g per pound, gained 1.2 kg of lean mass and lost 4.8 kg of fat. The group on 1.2 g per kg gained 0.1 kg of lean mass and lost 3.5 kg of fat.
Where it’s too much
Most people who lift aren’t lean athletes on a hard diet. For them, about 0.7 g per pound is where the trials stopped finding more muscle. Past that, the extra protein mostly turns into calories. It isn’t harmful for healthy kidneys on the evidence so far, but it’s money and calories you could spend on something else.
It’s furthest off for people with a lot of fat to lose. A pound of fat needs almost no protein, so a rule that counts every pound overshoots. That’s why the ranges on this site count from your goal plus a fifth of today’s weight when more than a fifth is to lose.
| You | 1 g per pound | Typical range | Lean and lifting hard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 140 lb at 25% bodyfat | 140 g | 75 to 100 g | 110 to 150 g |
| 180 lb at 15% bodyfat | 180 g | 100 to 130 g | 160 to 215 g |
| 180 lb at 12% bodyfat | 180 g | 100 to 130 g | 165 to 225 g |
| 250 lb aiming for 180 | 250 g | 125 to 165 g | not the right range for this goal |
The lean and lifting range is for people who are already lean, lift hard and are cutting. The Gyroscope app personalizes yours.
More detail: converting per kg to per pound
One kilogram is 2.2 pounds. To turn grams per kg into grams per pound, divide by 2.2. The RDA of 0.8 g per kg is about 0.36 g per pound. The typical range of 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg is about 0.55 to 0.73 g per pound. The top of Morton’s range, 2.2 g per kg, is 1.0 g per pound. The lean-lifter range is counted per kg of lean mass, not body weight, so it changes with your bodyfat.
8 sources
- Morton et al., A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Nunes et al., Systematic review and meta-analysis of protein intake to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults, Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2022pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Helms, Zinn, Rowlands and Brown, 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
- Longland et al., Higher compared with lower dietary protein during an energy deficit combined with intense exercise promotes greater lean mass gain and fat mass loss: a randomized trial, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2016pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Devries et al., Changes in kidney function do not differ between healthy adults consuming higher- compared with lower- or normal-protein diets: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Journal of Nutrition, 2018pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030, January 2026cdn.realfood.gov
- USDA National Agricultural Library, Food and Nutrition Information Centernal.usda.gov
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy record 171534fdc.nal.usda.gov
