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 you lose weight. And you’re probably wondering, “How much protein do I need?” Well, we can help you figure it out.
The MyFitnessPal Protein Calculator is a simple and user-friendly 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 you should aim for. All you have to do is enter some basic information about yourself, including:
- Age: Protein needs can vary with age, especially as muscle mass naturally declines over time.
- Sex: Although it’s just a 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 requires for maintenance and growth.
- Activity level: Whether you’re sedentary or very active, your activity level plays a big role in determining 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).
However, as always, the recommendations are only guidelines provided for your information. You should always talk to your doctor or registered dietitian for personalized advice or if you have a medical condition.
Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein
The RDA for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight for most adults. However, this amount is minimum the amount needed to support basic body functions and prevent muscle wasting (7).
The RDA amount is likely 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.
Protein intake guidelines
Other organizations that issue recommendations, such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the International Association of Sports Nutrition, recommend 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. (1)
For a 150-pound person, that’s between 82 and 136 grams of protein per day. Enter your numbers into the calculator to get a better idea of what a good protein goal would be 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 snack at a time.
Here are two good strategies for figuring out how much protein is in each meal:
Read nutrition labels
Food labels list the protein content per serving. 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 into the app and it will calculate your daily protein intake, helping you stay on track with your goals.
High protein food sources
Many everyday foods are rich in protein. Here are some more common foods that can help you reach your protein and overall nutrition goals:
The dangers of insufficient or excessive protein intake
Protein is necessary for every cell in our body. Without it, muscle growth, development and tissue repair do not occur as they should (2).
But there can be too many good things. When you’re laser-focused on getting protein, it can crowd out other nutritious foods. “It’s harder to include all your food groups, it becomes harder to get variety in your meals and build your meals, it becomes harder to balance your carbohydrate and fat needs,” says Stephanie Nelson, chief scientist at nutrition in MyFitnessPal.
Achieving the right balance is key to avoiding these issues while optimizing your health.
Calculation of protein FAQs
Use the MyFitnessPal protein calculator by entering your weight, age, activity level and goals.
Build your meals with protein-rich foods like eggs for breakfast, grilled chicken for lunch, and tofu 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 balance of muscle protein. Research shows that resistance exercise along with protein consumption stimulates muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) (3).
This means that it is important to consume sufficient amounts of protein when lifting weights to gain muscle, but also to maintain your current muscle mass. Although the body can technically build muscle from amino acid stores, it is not ideal and has not been shown to be as effective, which is why protein intake recommendations for physically active individuals are higher than for sedentary people (4).
While not getting enough protein is not ideal, consuming too much protein can also have negative effects. The kidneys filter out the byproducts of ingested protein, so anyone with impaired kidney function should refrain from consuming high amounts of protein. Fluids are also required to break down and flush out these byproducts, so hydration status is sometimes affected when you consume too much protein (5).
Remember that the source of protein is as important as the amount, research has shown that excessive consumption of red meat and processed meat can increase the overall risk of mortality. You may want to choose protein sources like fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, and low-fat milk more often (6).
Additional resources for further learning
- The Essential Guide to Protein for Optimal Health
- Carbohydrate, protein and fat ratio: The role of macronutrients for weight loss
- Free macro calculator
The post Protein Calculator: Find Out Your Daily Protein Needs appeared first on MyFitnessPal Blog.
