To build muscle, aim for 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. That range covers most people who lift weights regularly. A 180-pound person, for example, would target roughly 125 to 180 grams of protein daily. Where you land within that range depends on your goals, your body composition, and whether you’re eating in a calorie deficit.
The Evidence-Based Range
The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends 1.4 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day for exercising individuals looking to build or maintain muscle. Converted to pounds, that works out to about 0.64 to 0.91 grams per pound. Sports nutrition researchers have largely converged on a similar window of 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram (0.73 to 1.0 gram per pound) as the sweet spot for maximizing muscle protein synthesis.
For most people strength training consistently, 0.7 grams per pound is a solid starting point. Going above 1 gram per pound hasn’t shown meaningful additional muscle-building benefits in most research. The extra protein won’t hurt you, but it likely won’t translate into extra muscle either.
When You Need More Protein
If you’re cutting calories to lose fat while trying to hold onto muscle, your protein needs go up. During a calorie deficit, your body is more likely to break down muscle tissue for energy, and higher protein intake helps counteract that. Research on athletes losing weight recommends 1.6 to 2.4 grams per kilogram (roughly 0.73 to 1.1 grams per pound), with leaner individuals and those on more aggressive cuts needing the higher end.
Three factors push your needs toward the top of that range: how steep your calorie deficit is, how lean you already are, and how hard you’re training. Someone who’s already fairly lean and drops calories sharply while maintaining heavy lifting sessions is at the highest risk of losing muscle. Resistance-trained athletes in a deficit may benefit from up to 1.2 grams per pound, though beyond about 1.1 grams per pound the additional muscle-sparing effect appears to flatten out.
How to Spread Protein Across the Day
Total daily protein matters most, but how you distribute it across meals makes a real difference. Spreading protein evenly throughout the day produces about 25 percent more muscle protein synthesis compared to loading most of it into one or two meals. In practical terms, that means three to four meals each containing a meaningful dose of protein will outperform a pattern of a low-protein breakfast, a light lunch, and a massive steak at dinner.
Each meal should contain roughly 30 grams of high-quality protein. That amount supplies about 3 grams of leucine, the specific amino acid that flips the switch on muscle building in your cells. Below that threshold, your body stays in a breakdown state rather than a building state. For a 180-pound person targeting 150 grams daily, that could look like four meals of about 37 grams each.
You may have heard that your body can only “use” 20 to 25 grams of protein at a time. That limit seems to apply mainly to fast-absorbing protein like whey shakes consumed in isolation. When you eat whole-food protein sources (meat, eggs, beans, dairy), digestion is slower, and your body handles larger servings without wasting them.
Protein Needs After 60
Older adults need more protein per meal and per day to get the same muscle-building response as younger people. This is due to a phenomenon called anabolic resistance: aging muscles become less sensitive to the signal that protein sends to trigger repair and growth. The dose required to maximally stimulate muscle building in older adults is roughly 68 percent higher than in younger adults.
In practice, that means older individuals should aim for about 40 grams of high-quality protein per meal, compared to the 25 to 30 grams that works well for younger adults. Daily targets of 1.0 to 1.5 grams per kilogram (0.45 to 0.68 grams per pound) are recommended for older adults looking to maintain muscle mass. The standard dietary recommendation of 0.36 grams per pound is widely considered insufficient for preserving muscle as you age.
Plant Protein vs. Animal Protein
Plant-based proteins generally contain lower concentrations of leucine and other essential amino acids compared to animal sources, which means they’re less efficient at triggering muscle growth gram-for-gram. But “less efficient” doesn’t mean ineffective. Several plant proteins, including soy, pea, brown rice, and potato protein, actually exceed the minimum leucine threshold set by the World Health Organization. Hemp and lupin fall slightly short.
If you rely primarily on plant-based protein, you can close the gap in a few ways. Eating a larger portion is the simplest fix. Combining different plant proteins (rice and beans, for example) creates a more complete amino acid profile. You can also look for plant protein powders fortified with leucine. None of this means you need to eat animal products to build muscle, but it does mean plant-based eaters may benefit from aiming toward the higher end of the protein range.
Quick Reference by Body Weight
- 140 lbs: 100 to 140 g protein per day
- 160 lbs: 112 to 160 g protein per day
- 180 lbs: 126 to 180 g protein per day
- 200 lbs: 140 to 200 g protein per day
- 220 lbs: 154 to 220 g protein per day
If you’re significantly overweight, using your goal body weight or lean body mass as the basis for your calculation gives a more realistic target. A 250-pound person carrying substantial body fat doesn’t necessarily need 250 grams of protein. Using a target weight of 200 pounds and calculating 0.8 to 1 gram per pound yields 160 to 200 grams, which is more practical and still effective for preserving muscle during fat loss.