By now you’ve heard about the power of protein. It’s the magic macronutrient that helps keep you full and maintain muscle mass while losing weight. And you’re probably wondering, “How much protein do I need?” Well, we can help you find out.
The MyFitnessPal Protein Calculator is a simple, easy-to-use tool designed to help you determine your approximate daily protein needs based on your unique lifestyle and health goals.
How to use the MyFitnessPal Protein Calculator
This tool takes some of the guesswork out of how much protein to aim for. All you have to do is enter a few basic details about yourself, including:
- Age: Protein requirements may vary according to age, especially as muscle mass naturally decreases over time.
- Sex: While that’s just one consideration, men and women tend to have different protein needs.
- Weight: Your weight helps determine your protein needs. It directly affects the amount your body needs for maintenance and growth.
- Activity level: Whether you are sedentary or very active, your activity level plays a big role in how much protein your body uses.
- Fitness goals: Whether you’re aiming to lose weight, build muscle, or maintain your current health, the calculator adjusts your recommendations accordingly.
Protein is essential for building and repairing tissue, producing enzymes and hormones and maintaining muscle mass. The calculator uses evidence-based guidelines to ensure your protein intake supports your goals without going overboard (1).
As always, however, the recommendations are guidelines for your information only. You should always talk to your doctor or registered dietitian for personalized advice or if you have any medical conditions.
Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein
The RDA for protein is 0.8 grams per kg body weight for most adults. However, this amount is minimum amount needed to support basic body functions and prevent muscle loss (7).
The RDA amount is probably not enough to meet the needs of active people or those with specific fitness goals. How much protein you need to gain muscle or maintain muscle mass is another matter.
Guidelines for protein intake
Other organizations that issue recommendations, such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the International Society of Sports Nutrition, recommend 1.2 to 2 grams of protein for every pound of body weight per day. (1)
For a 150-pound person, that’s between 82 and 136 grams of protein per day. Plug your own numbers into the calculator to get a better sense of what would be a good protein goal for you.
How to calculate protein intake in meals
Your protein goal for the day may seem like a high number when you first see it. It can be helpful to work toward this goal one meal and one snack at a time.
Here are two good strategies for figuring out how much protein is in each meal:
Read nutrition labels
Nutrition labels show protein content per portion. Multiply this number by the number of servings you consume to calculate your total protein intake from packaged foods.
Use MyFitnessPal
With MyFitnessPal, tracking protein is easy. Simply log your meals in the app and it will calculate your daily protein intake and help you keep track of your goals.
High protein food sources
Many everyday foods are high in protein. Here are some of the most common foods that can help you meet your protein and overall nutrition goals:
Risk of insufficient or excessive protein intake
Protein is needed by every cell in our bodies. Without it, muscle growth, development and tissue repair do not occur as they should (2).
But there can be too much of a good thing. When you’re laser-focused on eating protein, it can crowd out other nutritious foods. “It gets harder to include all your food groups, it gets harder to get variety in your meals and to engineer your meals, it gets harder to balance your carbohydrate and fat needs,” says Stephanie Nelson, MyFitnessPal’s lead nutritionist.
Finding the right balance is key to avoiding these problems while optimizing your health.
Frequently asked questions about calculating protein
Use the MyFitnessPal Protein Calculator by entering your weight, age, activity level and goals.
Build your meals around protein-rich foods like eggs for breakfast, grilled chicken for lunch and tofu stir-fry for dinner.
Most people benefit from 1.2-1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight while losing weight (1).
Building new muscle and maintaining muscle mass requires a positive muscle protein balance. Research shows that resistance training combined with protein consumption stimulates muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) (3).
This means that it is important to consume adequate amounts of protein when lifting weights to gain muscle, but also to maintain current muscle mass. Although the body can technically build muscle from amino acid reserves, it is not ideal and has not been shown to be as efficient, so protein intake recommendations for physically active people are higher than for sedentary people (4).
While getting enough protein is not ideal, consuming too much protein can also have negative effects. The kidneys filter the by-products from ingested protein, so anyone with altered kidney function should refrain from consuming large amounts of protein. Fluids are also required to break down and flush out these byproducts, so occasionally hydration status is affected by overconsumption of protein (5).
Remember that the source of protein is just as important as the amount, research has shown that overconsumption of red meat and processed meat can increase overall mortality risk. You may want to choose protein sources like fish, poultry, nuts, legumes and low-fat dairy more often (6).
Additional resources for further learning
- The essential guide to protein for optimal health
- Carb, Protein and Fat Ratio: The Role of Macronutrients for Weight Loss
- Free macro calculator
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