Ray's Take

This is a question I get all the time. How much protein should I eat?

What do we know?

Eating protein is good.
- You need it to build muscle. Meta-analysis.
- You will lose muscle if you don't get enough. Meta-analysis.
- Your body cannot make "essential amino acids" so you must eat them (fact).
- Every single essential amino acid plays a key role in metabolism (leucine turns on mTOR for example).
- Protein probably makes you less hungry.
- Protein is 4 cals per gram and has the requires the highest amount of energy to digest (25-30% vs 5-10% for carbs, 0-3% for fat). Review article.

What is confusing

There are a 1000 scientific studies, a 1000 meatheads online giving their opinions, and 1000 healthline type sites all giving differing opinions.

What is useless

I think giving a target grams per day is kind of dumb, because to actually know how many grams of protein you eat will require weighing it, tracking it, and no normal person is going to do that.

I'll try this another way. I will try to estimate around how much you can aim to eat, and how to actually do it. I'll do this two ways:

Way 1 - start with grams per lb of body weight

• This meta-analysis of 49 studies found eating 0.75g protein per lb increases muscle and strength in people that do resistance training. However the upper 95% confidence interval was 1g protein per lb*. Authors later say to get 0.75g protein per lb minimum.
• 1g protein per lb of body weight is deemed as safe, and what Peter Attia recommends.
• If you look online (and in medical studies), 1g per lb is on the middle/high range. Some say you don't need that much. Others say you should eat 1.5g per lb to maximize muscle building.
• 2g per lb is high and there is evidence this isn't safe long term. We only care about long term so let's not go that high.
• My personal experience also supports 1g per gram of body weight for myself: 39 year old Asian male that is 5'8" 150 lbs that uses 2400 calories per day (RMR 1600, thermic effect of food 300, moving around 500) Yes i'm a tool and yes the lighting is phenomenal in that photo. I'm really not that meaty.

Way 2 - as a % of total calories eaten

• Let's say my goal is to eat at least 25% of calories from protein, up to 35%. Why? The protein leverage hypothesis says that I'll be less hungry and eat less if I go up to 30% total protein.
  
• Let's calculate what that means using myself. I burn 2400 calories a day (see above) . I want to maintain so I want to eat 2400 calories exactly.
• 2400 cals * 25% protein = 600 cals of protein
• 600 cals of protein / 4 cals per gram of protein = 150g protein
• This matches Way 1.

Conclusion: Aim for 1g protein per lb of body weight if you are lifting weights

The best studies and my personal experience says that aiming for 1g protein per lb makes sense.

Will you suffer if you don't get the full 1g protein per lb? No. This can be an aspirational goal. But you should def try to get more than 0.75g per lb.

Even if you aren't lifting weights, there is good evidence that you will preserve lean muscle and lose weight if you have at least 0.5g protein per lb, and 0.75g per lb is better (link). Studies have shown that to do this, people typically have to increase protein by 28.6% to over 0.5g per day for weight loss (link). Thus, I'd aim for 1g protein per day anyways.

Note: My assumption is that you do not have a kidney disease or any other major health issues (which could prevent you from eating too much protein).

*Analysis included only studies where participants were on a program at least 6 weeks long, at least 2 days per week training.

What 1g protein per pound looks like

I would think about protein in units.

Each unit is ROUGHLY 25g protein.

1 unit servings:
- 1/2 chicken breast (~1/4 lb)
- 1 chicken thigh (~1/4 lb)
- 1/4 lb steak
- 1/4 lb fish
- 4 eggs (whole)
- 1 scoop protein powder (check the label)
- 1 high protein bar (check the label)

So based on your weight, just know the number of units you need to get total.

Based on how often you eat, decide how many units to have per meal or snack.

Example: 150 lb guy that wants 150 grams of protein per day

Meal 1: 2 med chicken thighs
--> ~50g protein

Snack: Quest bar
--> ~25g protein

Meal 2: 0.5 lb steak (1/2 lb)
---> ~50g protein

Snack/Dessert: 1 scoop protein powder
---> ~25g protein

Total ~150g protein

Do I do this?

No. I just eat what I eat and it turns out to be 1g/lb or more automatically. (This is what I eat on a normal day).

My program is on autopilot mode. But you need to design your program

To do so, you can use the above guide as a reference, weight out all the protein you eat, or just wing it. It's really up to you. The most important thing is to decide if you like it, and if it results in measurable progress. Like a founder, you should test what works for you, and lock in whats most effective.

Citations

Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, Schoenfeld BJ, Henselmans M, Helms E, Aragon AA, Devries MC, Banfield L, Krieger JW, Phillips SM. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med. 2018 Mar;52(6):376-384. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608. Epub 2017 Jul 11. Erratum in: Br J Sports Med. 2020 Oct;54(19):e7. PMID: 28698222; PMCID: PMC5867436.

Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA. How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2018 Feb 27;15:10. doi: 10.1186/s12970-018-0215-1. PMID: 29497353; PMCID: PMC5828430.