Protein targets, explained without yelling

Protein is the most over-debated and under-eaten macronutrient in the modern diet. Half the internet thinks you need 300 grams a day. The other half thinks 50 is fine. The truth, as usual, is in the middle and depends on what you're trying to do.

The numbers

For the average sedentary adult, the RDA is 0.8 g/kg of body weight per day. That's the minimum to avoid deficiency, not the optimum for anything else. For a 70 kg person, that's 56 grams a day, which most people can hit eating a single chicken breast.

If you train, especially if you lift, the picture changes. The current consensus from the protein literature (Phillips, Helms, Aragon, Schoenfeld and others) sits in this range:

• Sedentary adults: ~1.0 g/kg
• General fitness, recreational training: 1.4–1.8 g/kg
• Lifters trying to build muscle: 1.6–2.2 g/kg
• Lifters in a calorie deficit (cutting): 2.0–2.6 g/kg

For the same 70 kg person, that maxes out around 154 g of protein on a hard cut. Doable, but it doesn't happen by accident.

Diminishing returns

Once you cross about 2.2 g/kg in a non-deficit context, the muscle-building benefit is essentially flat. Eating 350 g of protein when you needed 160 g doesn't grow more muscle. It just makes your meals heavier and your wallet lighter.

The exception is during aggressive cuts, where slightly more protein helps preserve lean tissue. Even there, returns flatten by ~2.6 g/kg.

The 30-gram myth

You've probably heard "your body can only absorb 30 grams of protein per meal." This is false. The body absorbs essentially all dietary protein you ingest, regardless of meal size; what slows down past ~30 g is muscle protein synthesis (MPS) per meal. MPS plateaus, but absorption continues.

Practically: spreading protein across 3–5 meals is slightly better than dumping 200 g into dinner, but the difference is small and adherence beats optimality.

Where most people go wrong

Breakfast. A bowl of cereal is 5–10 g of protein. A bagel and cream cheese is similar. By lunch, you're starting at zero.

Snacks. Chips, crackers, bars without "protein" in the name — almost no protein.

Dressings and sauces. Massive calorie loads, little to no protein.

If you simply make sure breakfast hits 30 g and lunch hits 30 g, dinner can be normal and you'll land in the 1.6 g/kg range without thinking.

High-protein staples

• Greek yogurt (2%): ~17 g per cup
• Cottage cheese: ~13 g per half cup
• Eggs: ~6 g each
• Chicken breast: ~30 g per 4 oz
• Lean ground turkey: ~25 g per 4 oz
• Salmon: ~22 g per 4 oz
• Tofu (firm): ~20 g per cup
• Lentils: ~18 g per cup cooked
• Whey protein: 20–25 g per scoop

A breakfast of two eggs + a cup of Greek yogurt + a coffee with a scoop of whey is 50 g of protein in five minutes. The math is not hard once you know which foods do the work.

A simple rule

If you don't want to think about it: 0.8 grams of protein per pound of goal body weight. That's a metric/imperial half-translation that lands most people in the right ballpark without a calculator.

What this looks like in the app

Set protein as your tracked macro. Look at the seven-day average, not the daily. Most people are 30–40 g short per day; just knowing that fact closes most of the gap inside a week.

The protein you remember is the protein you ate.