How much protein
do I need?
How much protein should I eat is the question people ask straight after calories, and it has a better answer. Protein is the macronutrient worth getting right first, because it is the one doing the repairing. The good news is that the useful range is well established and wide enough that you do not need to be precise about it.
The range worth aiming for
The International Society of Sports Nutrition places the useful intake for building and maintaining muscle at roughly 1.4 to 2.0 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day for active people. That is a range, not a target, and where you sit inside it depends on what you are doing.
- General training
- Around 1.6 to 1.8 g per kg
- Building muscle
- Toward the top, around 2.0 g per kg
- In a calorie deficit
- Keep it high, protein is what protects muscle while you lose fat
Phasebuilt uses 1.8 g per kg by default and raises it to 2.0 g per kg when your goal is building muscle.
What that looks like in grams
For an 82 kg person: about 148 g a day at 1.8 g per kg, or 164 g when building. For a 60 kg person: about 108 g, or 120 g when building. Multiply your bodyweight in kilograms by the figure, that is the whole calculation.
Spread it across the day
Reaching 150 g in one sitting is unpleasant and unnecessary. Splitting the total across three or four meals is easier to eat and easier to sustain, which matters far more over ninety days than the exact distribution.
Where it comes from
Meat, fish, eggs and dairy are the most concentrated sources. Legumes, tofu, tempeh, seitan and higher protein grains cover a vegetarian or vegan intake, though you generally need a bit more volume and more variety across the day to reach the same total. Phasebuilt builds the meal guidance around whichever of those you selected.
Does more than 2.0 g per kg help?
For most people training normally, the evidence does not support pushing much beyond the top of that range for additional muscle. Extra protein is not harmful for healthy adults, it is just calories that could have come from elsewhere. If you have kidney disease or another medical condition affecting protein intake, that is a conversation for your doctor rather than a fitness site.
Powder is convenient, not required
A shake is a fast way to add 25 g when food is inconvenient. It has no advantage over food that reaches the same total, and no supplement compensates for a total you are not hitting.
Getting the rest of it right
Protein sits inside a calorie target, not beside it. If you do not yet have one, work through how many calories you need first, then set protein, then let fat and carbohydrate fill the remainder.
Get your protein target calculated alongside the rest of the plan.
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