Daily Protein Intake Calculator: Optimize Your Diet

This calculator anchors general-intake baselines to the Dietary Reference Intakes for adults (0.8 g protein per kg body weight per day) from the National Academies. Dietary Reference Intakes: Protein & Amino Acids.

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How to use

1. Enter body weight and select kg or lb.
2. Choose a goal: general health, endurance training, muscle gain, or fat loss.
3. Optional: enter body-fat % and check “Use lean body mass” if you prefer targets per fat-free mass during a cut.
4. Select meals per day to get a practical per-meal target from the daily midpoint.

You don’t need to go deep in math to calculate the right amount of protein to intake, just use our handy calculator!

Ranges this tool uses

For active populations, the calculator draws ranges from the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics/Dietitians of Canada/ACSM joint position paper, which summarizes evidence for athletes and highly active adults. Typical guidance spans ~1.2–2.0 g/kg/day depending on training and energy balance, higher when dieting to preserve lean mass. Academy/DC/ACSM Position Paper (2016).

Lean body mass option

If body-fat % is provided, you can apply targets to lean body mass. This is useful in energy deficits, where higher protein per unit of fat-free mass better supports muscle retention. The calculator’s “Basis” line shows whether results use total body weight or lean body mass.

Per-meal planning

The midpoint of your daily range is divided by your chosen meals to create a simple, repeatable per-meal goal. Consistency across the day matters more than precision at any single eating occasion.

Why the numbers look like this

For hypertrophy, a large meta-analysis shows protein benefits on lean mass plateau on average around ~1.6 g/kg/day when resistance training is present, with small individual variance above that level. This informs the “muscle gain” band and the midpoint used for per-meal math. Morton et al., 2018, BJSM.

Safety and context

• These targets are for generally healthy adults. Medical conditions (e.g., chronic kidney disease) require clinician guidance.
• Total energy, carbohydrate availability for training, dietary fats, fiber, micronutrients, sleep, and progressive training all affect results.
• Use this as planning guidance; refine with a registered dietitian for clinical needs or elite performance.

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