How Much Protein Do I Need?

The two numbers answer different questions

A 170 lb person — 77.1 kg, which is what every published figure is per:

Figure	g/kg	Per day
RDA	0.8	62 g
Resistance training	1.6	123 g
Building muscle, upper end	2.2	170 g

The gap between the first and the rest is roughly a factor of two, and it's the single most common confusion on this topic.

An RDA is a floor, not a target

This is what almost nobody is told.

A Recommended Dietary Allowance is the amount that meets the needs of nearly all healthy people. It's set to prevent deficiency. That's its job.

0.8 g/kg is exactly that for protein. It is not a recommendation for someone who trains, and reading it as one is a category error — you'd be using a number designed to stop something bad from happening as a target for making something good happen.

The 1.2–2.0 g/kg range for physically active people comes from a 2016 joint position stand by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine. Different question, different number.

Which row applies to you

Situation	g/kg
Sedentary	0.8 (the floor)
Active, endurance	1.2–1.6
Moderate resistance training	1.2–1.6
Maximising muscle protein synthesis	1.6–2.2

If you're torn between two adjacent rows, don't agonise. The difference between them is far smaller than the difference between hitting your number and not hitting it.

The per-meal figure is the one that changes anything

123 g a day is easy to agree with and impossible to act on — you can't eat it at any particular moment.

Across three meals that's 41 g each. Now it's something you can check against a plate.

And here's what that reveals: most people who miss their target aren't missing it by much at the end of the day. They're missing it at breakfast — which is where protein is most often absent and hardest to add retrospectively at 9pm.

Timing matters less than you were told

The old idea of a narrow anabolic window immediately after training has been substantially walked back.

What the evidence supports better is spreading intake reasonably evenly across the day rather than taking most of it in one meal. That's a large part of why the per-meal output exists — it nudges toward distribution without requiring you to think about timing at all.

Total body weight is the roughest part of this

These figures are published per kilogram of total body weight, and that's what the calculator uses.

But body composition matters and total weight can't see it. For anyone carrying substantial excess weight, scaling to a target weight or to lean body mass is common practice and gives a considerably lower number.

Which approach fits you is a conversation with a dietitian, not something a dropdown can decide.

Is more better?

Not indefinitely.

The published ranges have upper ends for a reason — beyond them the evidence for additional benefit thins out, while the protein is displacing other things you might have eaten.

High intakes are generally well tolerated by healthy people. That sentence contains two conditions a calculator cannot check. Kidney function in particular is a real medical consideration and belongs with a doctor rather than a formula.

Print the target sheet — the log on it is the useful part, because a few honest days will show you exactly which meal the gap is in.

Sources: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics / DoC / ACSM 2016 position stand, via Science for Sport · UC Davis Nutrition — protein requirements

Arithmetic on a published range, not advice. It knows nothing about your health or your goals.