How much protein do I need to build muscle?

Roughly 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilogram of bodyweight per day covers the needs of almost everyone training for muscle. Spreading it across three to five meals, each with a solid protein dose, is practical and effective.

Working out your number

An 80 kg person lands somewhere between 128 g and 176 g per day. Most people do well aiming for the middle of that range, around 1.8 g per kg. Going considerably higher is not harmful for healthy people but produces little additional benefit, and the calories are usually better spent on carbohydrate to fuel training.

Distribution across the day

Three to five meals with 25 to 45 g of protein each is a sensible structure. Very uneven distribution, such as 15 g at breakfast and 120 g at dinner, is less efficient than spreading it out, though total daily intake still does most of the work.

Practical sources

• Animal sources: Chicken, beef, fish, eggs, milk, yoghurt, and cheese are protein-dense and easy to hit targets with.
• Plant sources: Soy, lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, and seitan. Plant-based eaters generally benefit from the higher end of the range and from varying sources across the day.
• Powders: Whey, casein, or plant blends are convenient rather than necessary. They are food, not a supplement in any meaningful sense.

When you might go higher

Aim towards the upper end when you are in a calorie deficit, when you are older, or when training volume is high. Protein helps protect existing muscle when energy is restricted, which is why intakes rise rather than fall while dieting.

What protein cannot do

Protein is the raw material, not the signal. Without training that provides a genuine stimulus and enough total calories, extra protein does not create muscle. Eating 250 g a day while training twice a month changes nothing.

Anyone with kidney disease or another medical condition affecting protein handling should get individual advice from a doctor or dietitian rather than following general targets. More context on how nutrition supports training is in Hypertrophy and Muscle Growth.