Protein Calculator
Calculate daily protein requirements
Protein Calculator tool
Protein Calculator
Protein Calculator: key facts
- What it does
- Calculate daily protein requirements
- Category
- Health & Fitness Calculators
- Cost
- Free, with no account, sign-up, or install.
- Your data
- Runs entirely in your browser — the files and text you enter are never uploaded to a server.
- Last reviewed
- . Report an incorrect result.
What the Protein Calculator does
Protein needs scale with your body weight and how hard you train, and "get enough protein" is useless without a number. This calculator gives you that number: enter your weight and pick the activity profile that matches you, and it returns a daily protein target in grams.
It serves a spectrum of goals through four profiles — from a sedentary baseline of 0.8 grams per kilogram up to 2.2 grams for serious strength athletes. Someone recovering from training, a runner building endurance, or a lifter chasing muscle each gets a target grounded in their actual demand rather than a generic recommendation.
Using the Protein Calculator, step by step
- Input your body weight in kilograms.
- Pick the profile that fits you, from sedentary to high training / bodybuilding.
- Read your recommended daily protein intake in grams.
- Spread that total across your meals through the day.
Grams per kilogram, and choosing the multiplier
Protein requirements scale with body mass, so recommendations are expressed as grams per kilogram of body weight rather than as a flat daily figure. The calculation is that multiplication and nothing more; all the judgement sits in which multiplier you pick.
The lowest option, 0.8 g/kg, is the established dietary reference intake for adults — the amount sufficient to prevent deficiency in most sedentary people. It is a floor, not a target, and it is frequently misread as an optimum. The higher settings reflect research on training populations: around 1.2 g/kg for endurance work, 1.6 g/kg where the goal is building or retaining muscle, and up to 2.2 g/kg for heavy resistance training or for holding onto muscle while in a calorie deficit.
Evidence for gains beyond roughly 2.2 g/kg is weak in most populations, so the top of the range here reflects where the useful returns flatten out rather than an upper safety limit.
- At the default 70 kg, the four settings give 56 g, 84 g, 112 g, and 154 g a day.
- The 112 g figure at 1.6 g/kg is roughly four chicken breasts, or a mix across three meals of around 37 g each.
- A 90 kg person training hard at 2.2 g/kg needs 198 g daily, which generally requires deliberate planning rather than happening incidentally.
What makes this one worth using
- Four activity profiles map to established protein guidelines (0.8 to 2.2 g/kg), so the target reflects your real training demand, not a one-size figure.
- It bases the number on body weight, the variable that protein needs actually scale with.
- The result is a concrete daily gram target you can divide across meals.
- It runs instantly and locally with no account.
Distribution, sources, and who should be careful
Total daily intake matters most, but distribution has a secondary effect: spreading protein across three or four meals of 25 to 40 g stimulates muscle protein synthesis more effectively than taking the same total in one sitting. Timing around training turns out to matter far less than the daily total, despite how much attention it receives.
Source affects how much you need. Animal proteins, soy, and dairy contain the full complement of essential amino acids in useful proportions; most single plant sources are lower in one or more, so a plant-based diet benefits from variety across the day and often from aiming at the higher end of a range.
Two cautions. If you have reduced kidney function, protein intake is a genuinely clinical matter and higher intakes may be contraindicated — that requires a doctor's input, not a calculator's. And for very high or very low body weights, scaling on total mass can mislead, since the requirement tracks lean tissue rather than fat; a figure based on lean body mass is more appropriate there.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much protein do I need per day?
It depends on activity: roughly 0.8 g/kg of body weight for sedentary people, rising to around 1.6 g/kg for muscle gain and up to about 2.2 g/kg for intense strength training. This calculator applies the multiplier for the profile you choose.
Can I eat too much protein?
For healthy people, intakes in the ranges this tool suggests are well tolerated. Very high intakes offer little extra benefit for most goals and displace other nutrients, so there is usually no reason to exceed the high-training range unless advised.
Does it matter when I eat protein?
Total daily protein matters most, but spreading it across meals — rather than loading it all at once — helps your body use it efficiently for muscle repair. Aim to include a protein source at each meal to reach the daily target.
Should I use my current or goal body weight?
Most guidelines use current body weight. If you carry significant excess fat, some prefer to base protein on a target or lean weight, but for general purposes entering your current weight gives a reasonable target.
