Protein intake calculator
Enter your bodyweight and pick a goal — I'll work out how much protein you need a day and how much that is per meal.
A guide for healthy adults who train. Kidney disease or pregnancy — talk to a doctor first.
Where the numbers come from
I multiply your bodyweight by a grams-per-kilo range, one per goal:
- Build muscle — 1.6–2.2 g per kg. In the meta-analysis by Morton et al. (2018), muscle gain from protein rose up to about 1.6 g per kg a day and then levelled off; the top of the confidence interval was around 2.2 g.
- Maintain — 1.4–2.0 g per kg: the range the ISSN position stand on protein (Jäger et al., 2017) gives for people who exercise.
- Cut — 1.8–2.7 g per kg. Helms et al. (2014) recommend 2.3–3.1 g per kg of lean mass in a deficit; across total bodyweight, for a typical lifter, that's roughly this.
Per meal is the daily total divided by the number of meals. The ISSN position stand puts a meal at 20–40 g of protein: if a meal comes out well above that, add another one. If you carry a lot of extra fat, use the weight you're heading for, not your current one. The details are in the guide on protein per day, and the calorie calculator covers energy.
I don't track food — I track the weight on the bar and your bodyweight. Log your workouts and weigh in once a week: the diary shows whether your eating is working.
Prefer Telegram? Open the bot — same diary.