Protein

Most people asking how much protein they need have already been given three different answers: the government guideline, the number on a supplement tub, and whatever a coach said. These are not the same number and they are not trying to do the same job.

The short version: about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day if you train. Use the protein calculator if you want your number rather than the principle.

Where 1.6 g/kg comes from

The most useful piece of evidence here is a meta-regression pooling protein supplementation trials in people doing resistance training. It found that gains in lean mass increased with protein intake up to roughly 1.6 grams per kilogram per day, and then the line flattened.

Flattened, not fell. Eating more is not harmful; it simply stops buying anything. The confidence interval extended to about 2.2 g/kg, which is where the common “1.6 to 2.2” recommendation comes from — the top of that range is the cautious reading for anyone who wants certainty they are not under-eating.

For an 82 kg lifter, that is 130 to 180 grams a day.

Why the official guideline is lower

The widely cited 0.8 grams per kilogram figure is a Recommended Dietary Allowance. Its job is to define the intake at which almost nobody in a healthy population becomes deficient.

That is a floor for avoiding a deficiency disease. It was never an optimum for building muscle, and it was not derived from people doing hard resistance training. Using it as a training target is like using the minimum safe following distance as a cruising speed.

Both numbers are correct. They answer different questions.

When you are cutting, go higher

A calorie deficit is the one situation where protein clearly earns more than the 1.6 g/kg baseline.

Two things change. Your body is more inclined to break down muscle for fuel, and a higher protein intake blunts that. And protein is the most satiating macronutrient per calorie, which matters enormously when the hard part of the diet is compliance rather than arithmetic.

Two to 2.4 grams per kilogram is a reasonable cutting range. The leaner you already are and the more aggressive the deficit, the further toward the top you should sit — lean people in steep deficits are the ones with the most to lose.

Distribution matters, but less than the total

Spreading protein across three or four meals of 25 to 40 grams produces a modestly better muscle protein synthesis response than eating 30 grams at breakfast and 120 at dinner.

The keyword is modestly. This is a refinement you apply after you are reliably hitting your daily total, not a rule to stress about before you are. Someone eating 90 grams a day perfectly distributed is doing worse than someone eating 160 grams badly distributed.

There is no anabolic window narrow enough to sprint for. Get the day right first.

Getting there from food

At 160 grams a day, the arithmetic is less forgiving than it looks. Chicken breast runs about 31 g per 100 g cooked, Greek yoghurt about 10 g per 100 g, eggs about 6 g each, lentils about 9 g per 100 g cooked.

Two eggs on toast is 14 grams. That is a snack against a 160-gram target, not a meal, and this is where most people’s day quietly falls apart — breakfast and lunch under-deliver and dinner cannot make up 100 grams.

Anchor every meal to a protein source first and build the rest around it. Our high-protein meal guide is the practical version of that. If a genuine gap remains after food, that is what whey is for — closing a shortfall, not adding to a total that already works.

Is high protein bad for your kidneys

In people with healthy kidneys, no. Trials running years at intakes well above typical have not shown damage to kidney function.

The caveat is the one that matters: if you have existing kidney disease, protein intake is a genuine clinical variable and belongs in a conversation with your doctor, not in a general article.