Protein Intake Calculator

Protein supports muscle repair and growth, immune function, hormones, and enzymes, and it helps you feel full. Your daily need scales with body weight and, importantly, with how active you are. That is why this calculator gives you a range rather than a single number: for anyone training regularly, the evidence supports a band of intake, not one exact figure.

The baseline is the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of 0.8 g per kg of body weight, which is enough to prevent deficiency in a generally sedentary adult. Moderately active people typically benefit from 1.0–1.2 g/kg, and those doing regular strength or endurance training generally do best in the 1.2–2.0 g/kg range. Where you land within your range depends on your goals, training volume, and total calorie intake.

These figures are based on total body weight and on protein from your overall diet across the day. Spreading intake across meals is generally more effective than concentrating it in one sitting. If you have kidney disease or another condition that affects protein needs, treat these general figures as a starting point for a conversation with a clinician or dietitian rather than a personal prescription.

These body-weight-based ranges work well for most healthy adults across a normal range of body sizes and activity levels. They are a sound starting point whether your goal is general health, gradual muscle gain, or supporting a training programme.

They are least precise for people at very high body-fat levels, where targets based on lean mass or an adjusted body weight can be more appropriate, and for anyone with a medical reason to limit or increase protein — including kidney disease, certain metabolic conditions, or pregnancy. In those cases the general range is a conversation starter for a clinician or registered dietitian, not a personal prescription. Athletes with specific physique or performance goals may also fine-tune within the range based on training phase and total energy intake.

Formula. We multiply your body weight in kilograms by the grams-per-kilogram figure for your activity level: 0.8 g/kg for the sedentary RDA baseline, 1.0–1.2 g/kg for moderately active adults, and 1.2–2.0 g/kg for strength and endurance athletes. Weight entered in pounds is converted to kilograms first.

Sources. The 0.8 g/kg baseline comes from the U.S./Canada Dietary Reference Intakes published by the National Institutes of Health. The higher active-population ranges come from the International Society of Sports Nutrition's 2017 position stand on protein and exercise.

Confidence. We label this moderate confidence. The sedentary RDA is a well-established figure, while the active-population numbers are a legitimate evidence-based range rather than a single precise value — which is exactly why the result is shown as a range instead of an invented midpoint.