ActiveDay

Protein Intake Calculator

How many grams of protein you need per day, based on your body weight and what you are training for.

Enter your weight to see your daily protein range.

Why protein targets are set per kilogram

Protein is the structural macronutrient: muscle, organs, skin, enzymes, and immune cells are built and repaired from it daily. Your requirement therefore scales with how much body you have to maintain — which is why every serious recommendation is expressed in grams per kilogram of body weight rather than as a percentage of calories. A percentage target produces absurd results at the extremes: too little protein on a deep cut, far more than needed on a big bulk.

The ranges this calculator uses

GoalProtein per day
General health (sedentary to light activity)0.8 – 1.2 g/kg
Endurance training1.2 – 1.6 g/kg
Building muscle1.6 – 2.2 g/kg
Fat loss while preserving muscle1.8 – 2.4 g/kg

Two patterns are worth noticing. Requirements rise with training stress, because training is controlled damage that protein repairs. And they rise again when dieting: in a calorie deficit, higher protein is what tells your body to burn fat rather than muscle. Older adults also benefit from the upper ends of each range, since the body becomes less responsive to protein with age.

Hitting the number in practice

A 75 kg person building muscle needs roughly 120 to 165 g per day — more than most people eat by default. The reliable pattern is anchoring each meal around a protein source: eggs or yogurt at breakfast, meat, fish, tofu, or legumes at lunch and dinner, and a high-protein snack if a gap remains. Per-100 g, chicken breast carries about 31 g, canned tuna 25 g, Greek yogurt 10 g, lentils 9 g — you can check any food in the food database.

Tracking removes the guesswork. Log meals in ActiveDay with the AI camera or barcode scanner and the daily protein bar shows exactly where you stand. Pair your protein target with calories from the calorie calculator and a full split from the macro calculator.

Frequently asked questions

  • Is the RDA of 0.8 g/kg enough?

    It is enough to prevent deficiency in sedentary adults, which is what it was designed for. Anyone training regularly, dieting, or past middle age benefits from substantially more — typically 1.2 to 2.2 g per kg depending on the goal.

  • Can I eat too much protein?

    For healthy people, intakes well above 2.2 g/kg have not shown harm in research — the practical downside is simply that those calories could have gone to carbs or fat. People with kidney disease should follow medical advice on protein.

  • Does protein timing matter?

    Far less than the daily total. Spreading intake over three to five meals of 25 to 40 g each is a sensible pattern, but hitting your daily target is the variable that moves results.

  • Do plant proteins count?

    Yes. Complete intake is achievable from plants; it just takes slightly more attention to total amounts and variety — soy, legumes, grains, and nuts complement each other across the day.

  • Should I use my current weight or target weight?

    If you carry significant excess fat, calculating from an estimated lean or target body weight avoids inflated numbers. Otherwise, current body weight is fine.

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