How much protein should i eat to gain muscle calculator

Learn exactly how many grams of protein per day you need!

In just a few minutes you can calculate the exact amount of protein you should be eating. Whether you are looking to lose weight or build muscle, learning your daily protein needs is crucial to getting results!

Start now! Enter your details to get your daily protein goal.

How to Use this Protein Calculator

Enter your details in the form above to calculate your exact protein demands based on your unique factors.

To get started, select your gender and input age, then tell us your height and current weight.

From there, you’ll input your workout routine - starting with resistance training. Be sure to choose the appropriate activity level: light activity, moderate activity, heavy activity, or athlete. Followed by the number of days your strength training each week and the average time for each training session.

Next, estimate your weekly cardio and conditioning routine. Repeat the same steps, identifying the average number of days each week, timing, and intensity level.

The last step is to select your nutrition goal: lose weight, gain muscle, or maintain weight.
From there, our proprietary formula will calculate your average daily protein requirements using a combination of your personal info, exercise routine, and selected fitness goal.

Then check your email inbox for immediate results and get ready to start tracking your daily protein intake.

How Your Protein Needs Are Calculated

The commonly recommended range of protein for both men and women is roughly 0.8 to 1.0 grams per pound of weight (in kilograms) or 0.36 to 0.45 grams per pound of body weight. However, this is the minimum amount most people need, and the optimum intake can vary widely from one individual to the next depending on certain factors.

Your exact protein needs are most closely related to your current muscle mass - the more muscle you have, the more protein you require to maintain it. And the more you use your muscle - aka the more physically active you are - the more protein you need.

Other factors that can increase your needs include a goal of weight loss or muscle gain. To put on muscle, you need protein to build it. When cutting calories to shed pounds, you will lose a combination of fat and muscle weight, but your goal should be to lose more fat than muscle. A higher-protein diet can help protect your lean tissue and promote more fat loss overall.

For these reasons, our protein calculator uses a higher protein suggestion that is fully customized to your weight, fitness level, nutrition goal, and current workout routine.

Learn more about how to tell exactly how much protein you should strive for.

How much protein should i eat to gain muscle calculator

Why Protein is Important

Protein is not just important for building and repairing lean tissue (like muscle), its also essential for numerous bodily functions. Basically every single cell in the human body is made up of proteins, including your DNA, red blood cells, and bones - all of which are in a constant state of breaking down and rebuilding, requiring protein and amino acids. 

If you don’t eat enough protein through food, your body has to tap into your stores to maintain normal protein turnover - and this means you could potentially lose muscle. 

How much protein should i eat to gain muscle calculator

Benefits of Eating High Protein

A high protein diet is associated with numerous benefits including decreased appetite, reduced cravings, and better body composition (1,2,3). Moreover, protein is the least likely of all the macros to be stored as body fat when you overeat (4). 

This is exactly why high protein diets have become so popular to support weight loss - with most plans recommending an intake of around 30% to 40% of your total calories. 

Regardless of your goals, making sure you hit your daily calorie needs and protein intake is two things you can do every day to ensure you get incredible results. 

Learn more about how to get your ideal macros for weight loss and muscle gain. 

How much protein should i eat to gain muscle calculator

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This stems from the understanding that because your kidneys play an important role in filtering waste, and digesting excess protein results in more metabolic wastes you would need to filter. However, eating high amounts of protein doesn't necessarily mean you are putting a strain on your kidneys unless you suffer from kidney disease.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;For those with diagnosed &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.davita.com/diet-nutrition/articles/basics/dietary-protein-and-chronic-kidney-disease"&gt;&lt;span&gt;kidney disease&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, consuming a high protein diet might be harmful (&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1262767/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129142/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;). But for healthy individuals without kidney disease - the additional work needed by your kidneys from high protein diets is thought to be well within its normal capabilities (&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27807480"&gt;&lt;span&gt;7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129142/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8989740"&gt;&lt;span&gt;9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1262767/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid-wrapper row-depth-1 row-number-24 dnd-section body_content-row-11-max-width-section-centering body_content-row-11-vertical-alignment body_content-row-11-margin"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid"&gt; &lt;div class="span6 widget-span widget-type-cell cell_1574371251934-vertical-alignment dnd-column" data-widget-type="cell" data-x="0" data-w="6"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid-wrapper row-depth-1 row-number-25 dnd-row"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid"&gt; &lt;div class="span12 widget-span widget-type-custom_widget widget_1574370953541-flexbox-positioning dnd-module" data-widget-type="custom_widget" data-x="0" data-w="12"&gt; &lt;div id="hs_cos_wrapper_widget_1574370953541" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_widget hs_cos_wrapper_type_module widget-type-linked_image" data-hs-cos-general-type="widget" data-hs-cos-type="module"&gt; &lt;span id="hs_cos_wrapper_widget_1574370953541_" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_widget hs_cos_wrapper_type_linked_image" data-hs-cos-general-type="widget" data-hs-cos-type="linked_image"&gt;&lt;a href="https://youtu.be/rCCNEtxw6LA" target="_blank" id="hs-link-widget_1574370953541_" rel="noopener" style="border-width:0px;border:0px"&gt;&lt;img src="https://www.trifectanutrition.com/hubfs/Trifecta%20App-1.jpg" class="hs-image-widget" style="max-width:100%;height:auto" alt="Trifecta App-1" title="Trifecta App-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="span6 widget-span widget-type-cell dnd-column cell_1574365685298-vertical-alignment cell_1574365685298-padding" data-widget-type="cell" data-x="6" data-w="6"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid-wrapper row-depth-1 row-number-26 cell_1574365685298-row-0-vertical-alignment dnd-row"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid"&gt; &lt;div class="span12 widget-span widget-type-cell cell_1574369214478-padding cell_1574369214478-vertical-alignment dnd-column" data-widget-type="cell" data-x="0" data-w="12"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid-wrapper row-depth-1 row-number-27 dnd-row"&gt; &lt;div class="row-fluid"&gt; &lt;div class="span12 widget-span widget-type-custom_widget dnd-module" data-widget-type="custom_widget" data-x="0" data-w="12"&gt; &lt;div id="hs_cos_wrapper_widget_1574357326195" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_widget hs_cos_wrapper_type_module widget-type-rich_text" data-hs-cos-general-type="widget" data-hs-cos-type="module"&gt;&lt;span id="hs_cos_wrapper_widget_1574357326195_" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_widget hs_cos_wrapper_type_rich_text" data-hs-cos-general-type="widget" data-hs-cos-type="rich_text"&gt;&lt;h5 style="text-align:left"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Track Protein Intake&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h5&gt; &lt;p style="text-align:left"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The easiest way to tell if you are getting plenty of protein on the reg is to track your daily macro intake using a nutrition tracking app.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The Trifecta app allows you to stay on top of your goals with full macro tracking in the palm of your hand. You can search a database of over 6 million food items, create custom high protein recipes, and view your average weekly protein intake to make sure you are driving real results.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Download the Trifecta app to get started!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="text-align:left"&gt;&lt;span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72"&gt;&lt;span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72" id="hs-cta-08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72"&gt;&lt;a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2498149/08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72" target="_blank" rel="noopener"&gt;&lt;img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72" style="border-width:0px" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2498149/08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72.png" alt="Get the App"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;script charset="utf-8"&gt;<script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2498149, '08b5fc41-6b39-4cff-8d0e-cc8036c53b72', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"});

How do I calculate how much protein I need to build muscle?

The Verdict. Based on the averages from evidenced backed recommendations, a good rule of thumb for maintaining existing muscle is to eat roughly 0.8 to 1 grams of protein/pound of body weight. And this amount may increase as high as 1 to 1.5 grams/pound when looking to add lean mass using a calorie surplus.

How can I get 150g of protein a day?

You have to be intentional about your protein intake..
Deli meat (4 slices is 20g).
beef jerky (Pacific gold brand is 14g per serving).
shrimp (100g cooked 24g).
chicken breast (4 oz is 26g).
Chicken Thighs (4 oz is 19g).
Ground Turkey (4 oz is 22g).
Ground beef (4 oz is 22g).
Egg whites (½ cup is 13g).

How much protein should a 170 pound man?

Current US recommendations for daily dietary protein intake are 0.8 grams/kilogram of body weight (roughly 62 g of protein per day for a 170-pound person).