

How much more depends not just on who you are but also who you ask. Generally speaking, people who are trying to maintain and build muscle through diet and exercise benefit from getting more protein than the RDA, Gonzalez says. Gonzalez, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., assistant professor in the Department of Health Professions at Hofstra University, tells SELF.Ī lot of people who drink protein shakes do so because they heard it’s great for making maximal #gains at the gym-or, in scientific parlance, for optimizing muscle protein synthesis (MPS, for short). You’re you, and the optimal amount of protein for any one individual depends not only on their biology and lifestyle but what their goals are, Adam M. So we know how much protein most people need, but maybe you’re not most people. But if muscle gains are your goal, here’s how much protein you need per day. If you have roughly zero idea how much protein you typically eat per day, here are a few examples of the amounts you can find in some common foods: a 4-ounce chicken breast has 27 grams, a cup of lentils has 17 grams, two large eggs have 12 grams, and two tablespoons of peanut butter have 7 grams. Based on those guidelines, most people already get enough protein from their diets, per the U.S. That means that a 150-pound person needs around 54 grams of protein per day, while a 200- pound person needs around 72 grams of protein a day. Don’t ask me why guidelines developed for people living in this country use the metric system! Because IDK.)

(That’s approximately 0.36 grams per pound. But for a baseline we can use the recommended daily allowance (RDA), which is based on the average amount of protein determined to meet the nutrient requirements of 97% to 98% of healthy individuals: 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. The amount of protein you should be getting each day varies based on factors like age, sex, health, and activity level, according to the U.S.
