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Protein Calculator: How Much Protein Do You Actually Need? (2026)

Free protein calculator with goal presets — cutting, bulking, GLP-1 medication, hard gainer. Plus a reference table by bodyweight and the per-meal split most people get wrong.

Par Inlab ProductsPublié le 27 mai 2026Mis à jour le 27 mai 20266 min de lecture

protein calculatorhow much protein do I needprotein per kg bodyweightprotein on Ozempic

À retenir

Most adults need 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg bodyweight per day. In a calorie deficit or on a GLP-1, raise it to 1.6–2.4 g/kg to protect muscle.
More than ~2.2 g/kg doesn't build extra muscle for most lifters. The exception is true hard gainers, where 2.2–3.4 g/kg helps in an aggressive surplus.
Per-meal distribution matters: aim for 30–40 g of high-quality protein at each main meal to maximize muscle protein synthesis.
The US RDA of 0.8 g/kg is a deficiency-prevention floor, not an optimal-health target. Most active adults benefit from roughly double that.
Hitting your protein number is more about consistency than perfection. Two days at 90% is better than one day at 110% and one at 60%.

title: "Protein Calculator: How Much Protein Do You Actually Need? (2026)" description: "Free protein calculator with goal presets — cutting, bulking, GLP-1 medication, hard gainer. Plus a reference table by bodyweight and the per-meal split most people get wrong." publishedAt: "2026-05-27" updatedAt: "2026-05-27" author: "Inlab Products" category: "Nutrition" tags: ["protein calculator", "how much protein do I need", "protein per kg bodyweight", "protein on Ozempic"] keyTakeaways:

"Most adults need 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg bodyweight per day. In a calorie deficit or on a GLP-1, raise it to 1.6–2.4 g/kg to protect muscle."
"More than ~2.2 g/kg doesn't build extra muscle for most lifters. The exception is true hard gainers, where 2.2–3.4 g/kg helps in an aggressive surplus."
"Per-meal distribution matters: aim for 30–40 g of high-quality protein at each main meal to maximize muscle protein synthesis."
"The US RDA of 0.8 g/kg is a deficiency-prevention floor, not an optimal-health target. Most active adults benefit from roughly double that."
"Hitting your protein number is more about consistency than perfection. Two days at 90% is better than one day at 110% and one at 60%." faq:
question: "How much protein do I need per day?" answer: "For most adults: 1.2–1.6 g per kg of bodyweight, which is roughly 0.55–0.73 g per pound. Active adults in a calorie deficit or on a GLP-1 medication should go higher, 1.6–2.4 g/kg. Use the calculator above for your exact number."
question: "Is 100 g of protein a day enough?" answer: "For a 60 kg / 132 lb adult at maintenance, yes — that's about 1.7 g/kg, near the upper end of normal recommendations. For an 80 kg / 176 lb adult, 100 g is only 1.25 g/kg — fine for sedentary maintenance but low for a deficit or muscle gain. Multiply your kg of bodyweight by 1.2–1.6 to get your floor."
question: "Can you eat too much protein?" answer: "For healthy adults, protein intakes up to 3.0–3.5 g/kg/day are well tolerated in research. Beyond ~2.2 g/kg there's no additional muscle benefit for most people, so the upper limit is more about diminishing returns than safety. People with chronic kidney disease should work with a doctor before raising protein."
question: "Does protein on a GLP-1 (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro) need to be higher?" answer: "Yes. GLP-1 weight loss is muscle-prone because appetite drops sharply and total food intake falls. Aim for a 1.6 g/kg floor, prioritize lean protein at each meal, and consider resistance training. See our GLP-1 diet plan guide."
question: "How much protein per meal is optimal?" answer: "Research suggests 30–40 g of high-quality protein per meal is roughly the ceiling for stimulating muscle protein synthesis in a single sitting. For most adults that means splitting your daily target across 3–4 meals rather than dumping it all into dinner."

If you came here from Google, you want a number. Here it is.

The 30-second answer

Take your bodyweight in kg and multiply by 1.2 to 1.6. That's your daily protein target in grams. If you're cutting, on a GLP-1, or trying to build muscle, multiply by 1.6 to 2.2 instead.

Skip the math:

Free protein calculator

Per-kg targets from the research consensus. All math is on-device — nothing leaves your browser.

Goal

Unit

Bodyweight (kg)Meals per day

Daily range

112–168

grams protein / day

Recommended

140 g

midpoint target

Per meal

35 g

across 4 meals

Cutting (calorie deficit): Higher protein protects muscle while you lose fat. Range is 1.6–2.4 g/kg (70 kg × 1.6–2.4). Protein contributes ~560 kcal — count it against your daily target.

Why the RDA (0.8 g/kg) is too low for most adults

The US RDA for protein — 0.8 g/kg/day — is the amount needed to prevent deficiency in sedentary adults. It is not the amount needed to optimize body composition, recovery, or healthy aging.

A 2022 ISSN position stand and decades of follow-up research consistently land on these working numbers for active adults:

Goal	Protein (g per kg bodyweight)	Protein (g per lb)
Sedentary maintenance (RDA floor)	0.8	0.36
General health, light activity	1.2–1.4	0.55–0.64
Recreational lifting, weight maintenance	1.4–1.8	0.64–0.82
Cutting (calorie deficit)	1.6–2.4	0.73–1.09
Muscle gain (calorie surplus)	1.6–2.2	0.73–1.00
On a GLP-1 (Ozempic / Wegovy / Mounjaro)	1.6–2.0	0.73–0.91
Hard gainer (struggling to gain)	2.2–3.4	1.00–1.55

Daily protein targets — quick reference

Midpoint targets in grams per day, by bodyweight and goal.

Maintenance (1.4 g/kg)

Bodyweight	Daily protein
50 kg / 110 lb	70 g
60 kg / 132 lb	84 g
70 kg / 154 lb	98 g
80 kg / 176 lb	112 g
90 kg / 198 lb	126 g
100 kg / 220 lb	140 g

Cutting or GLP-1 (2.0 g/kg)

Bodyweight	Daily protein
50 kg / 110 lb	100 g
60 kg / 132 lb	120 g
70 kg / 154 lb	140 g
80 kg / 176 lb	160 g
90 kg / 198 lb	180 g
100 kg / 220 lb	200 g

Hard gainer (2.8 g/kg)

Bodyweight	Daily protein
50 kg / 110 lb	140 g
60 kg / 132 lb	168 g
70 kg / 154 lb	196 g
80 kg / 176 lb	224 g
90 kg / 198 lb	252 g

The per-meal split most people get wrong

Daily total matters most, but distribution is a real second-order lever. Research on muscle protein synthesis (MPS) suggests:

The MPS response to a single meal plateaus around 30–40 g of high-quality protein for most adults. Older adults need the higher end because of anabolic resistance.
Going much higher in a single meal (say, 80 g at dinner) is not "wasted" — the extra protein is still used for general metabolism — but it doesn't stack additional muscle-building benefit on that meal.
Splitting your daily target into 3–4 meals of 30–40 g each is the practical sweet spot.

A 70 kg adult eating 140 g/day:

Meals/day	Per meal
3 meals	~47 g (a little above the MPS ceiling — fine)
4 meals	~35 g (right in the sweet spot)
5 meals (snacks count)	~28 g (slightly under — still works)
1 meal (OMAD)	140 g (a lot at once; OMAD is not optimal for muscle, but works for weight management)

Special case: protein on a GLP-1 medication

GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound) suppress appetite so strongly that most users involuntarily drop total food intake by 20–35%. That's good for weight loss but bad for muscle if protein drops proportionally.

Set a 1.6 g/kg floor, not a percentage of calories. A grams-based floor is harder to undercut on low-appetite days.
Front-load protein. Many GLP-1 users eat well at breakfast and lunch but lose interest by dinner. Get 50–60% of your daily protein in by 2 pm.
Liquid protein when solid food won't go down. A whey or pea-protein shake delivers 25–30 g in 250–300 ml.

For the full GLP-1 nutrition framework, see GLP-1 diet plan: what to eat on Ozempic, Wegovy & Mounjaro.

Special case: the hard gainer

If you're consistently trying to gain weight and lifting hard, the upper end of the protein range (2.2–3.4 g/kg) helps drive lean-mass accrual specifically rather than just total weight. Combine with a calorie surplus of 250–500 kcal/day. The full playbook is in our hard gainer guide.

How to actually hit the number

The protein gap most adults face is not strategy, it's tracking. People reliably under-log meat portions and forget to count protein in carby foods (bread has 3–4 g per slice; pasta has 7–8 g per cooked cup). Two compounding errors:

Under-logging protein on photos (chicken portions look smaller than they are).
Forgetting incidental protein in side dishes.

The fix is a tracker that recognizes whole meals (not single items) and lets you adjust portion size after the fact. Callie's photo + voice logging is built for this — and the review-before-confirm step catches portion misjudgments before they bake into your weekly average.

Common protein-rich foods, sorted by g per 100 kcal

When you're in a calorie deficit, density matters. These foods give you the most protein per calorie spent:

Food	Protein per 100 kcal
Egg whites	~21 g
Whey isolate	~22 g
Cod, plain	~21 g
Chicken breast, skinless	~18 g
Greek yogurt 0%	~17 g
Tofu, firm	~12 g
Lentils, cooked	~7 g
Whole eggs	~8 g
Almonds	~3.5 g

When to recalculate

Your protein target follows your bodyweight, so every 5 kg / 10 lb of weight change is worth a recheck. Also recheck if you:

Start or stop a GLP-1 medication
Switch from maintenance to a cut or surplus
Start strength training after a sedentary period
Cross age 65 (older adults benefit from the upper end of the range due to anabolic resistance)

If you only remember one thing

Bodyweight in kg × 1.6 is a defensible target for almost any active adult. If you're cutting or on a GLP-1, push it to 2.0. Hit that number 5–6 days a week — the result compounds far more than perfect macro hair-splitting on any single day.

Questions fréquentes

How much protein do I need per day?

For most adults: 1.2–1.6 g per kg of bodyweight, which is roughly 0.55–0.73 g per pound. Active adults in a calorie deficit or on a GLP-1 medication should go higher, 1.6–2.4 g/kg. Use the calculator above for your exact number.

Is 100 g of protein a day enough?

For a 60 kg / 132 lb adult at maintenance, yes — that's about 1.7 g/kg, near the upper end of normal recommendations. For an 80 kg / 176 lb adult, 100 g is only 1.25 g/kg — fine for sedentary maintenance but low for a deficit or muscle gain. Multiply your kg of bodyweight by 1.2–1.6 to get your floor.

Can you eat too much protein?

For healthy adults, protein intakes up to 3.0–3.5 g/kg/day are well tolerated in research. Beyond ~2.2 g/kg there's no additional muscle benefit for most people, so the upper limit is more about diminishing returns than safety. People with chronic kidney disease should work with a doctor before raising protein.

Does protein on a GLP-1 (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro) need to be higher?

Yes. GLP-1 weight loss is muscle-prone because appetite drops sharply and total food intake falls. Aim for a 1.6 g/kg floor, prioritize lean protein at each meal, and consider resistance training. See our [GLP-1 diet plan guide](/blog/glp-1-diet-plan-ozempic-wegovy-mounjaro).

How much protein per meal is optimal?

Research suggests 30–40 g of high-quality protein per meal is roughly the ceiling for stimulating muscle protein synthesis in a single sitting. For most adults that means splitting your daily target across 3–4 meals rather than dumping it all into dinner.