Protein keeps your muscles, bones and skin in good repair, helps you feel full and plays a part in nearly every process in your body. But how much do you actually need, and does it matter when you eat it? Here's a plain-English guide, with input from sports nutritionist Ben Canary and registered nurse Rebecca Lee.
What is protein?
Protein is one of the three macronutrients, alongside carbohydrate and fat. When you eat it, your body breaks it down into amino acids and uses them to build what it needs. Nine of those amino acids are essential, meaning your body can't make them and they must come from food.
"Proteins are broken down into amino acids and used by the body for everything from creating enzymes, immunoprotection, transporter molecules, and structural elements, such as skeletal muscle." – Ben Canary, sports nutritionist
Those amino acids help maintain muscle, bone, skin, hair and nails, which is why protein matters at every age, not just in the gym.
How much protein do you need per day?
The Recommended Dietary Allowance for adults is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (about 0.36 grams per pound), or roughly 56 grams a day for an average man and 46 grams for an average woman. That's the amount that covers basic needs for most healthy adults, not necessarily the ideal.
Needs go up in some situations:
- If you exercise regularly. The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg a day for most exercising people building or maintaining muscle. In a large meta-analysis, extra protein stopped adding muscle gains above about 1.6 g/kg a day during resistance training.
- As you get older. An international expert group recommends at least 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg a day for adults over 65, and more for those who are active or unwell.
For a 150-pound (68 kg) person, that works out to about 54 grams a day at the RDA and about 109 grams at 1.6 g/kg. If you have kidney disease, are pregnant or have a medical condition, check with your doctor before raising your protein intake.
Does protein help with weight management?
It can help in a few ways. Protein takes more energy to digest than carbohydrate or fat, a point Rebecca Lee makes too. In one small study, calorie burn after meals was about twice as high on a high-protein diet as on a high-carbohydrate diet, measured 2.5 hours after eating.
Protein also helps with fullness. In a 12-week weight-loss study, overweight men eating 25% of calories from protein felt fuller through the day and had less late-night desire to eat and fewer thoughts of food than men eating 14% protein. And across trials, higher-protein, reduced-calorie diets led to modestly more weight and fat loss while preserving more lean mass than standard-protein diets.
Holding on to muscle matters because skeletal muscle metabolism is a major determinant of resting energy expenditure, the calories you burn at rest. For more on this, read do protein shakes promote weight loss?
Does it matter how you spread protein through the day?
Canary suggests including protein at each meal, around 20 to 30 grams, with some protein in snacks. That's a practical way to reach your daily total without relying on one huge meal, and it keeps meals satisfying.
Two older ideas don't hold up as well, though. Eating more often isn't necessary for appetite control: in the same weight-loss study, three versus six eating occasions a day made no difference to hunger or fullness. And the idea that your body can only use a set amount of protein at a time has been challenged: a 2023 study found that 100 grams of protein after exercise produced a larger and longer-lasting muscle-building response than 25 grams. Your daily total matters most.
How can you get enough protein from plants?
Plant foods supply all the essential amino acids, but most individual plant proteins are lower in one or two of them, typically lysine or methionine. The answer is variety, and you don't need to combine them at every meal as long as you get a balance over the day. Rice and beans are the classic pairing. Canary's favorites:
- Tofu and tempeh, which are high in protein.
- Seitan, which is very high in protein and low in fat, though it is made from wheat gluten, so avoid it if you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance.
- Nuts and seeds, in sensible portions.
For protein counts of everyday foods, see everyday vegan protein options, and for more on mixing sources, why eating a variety of protein sources matters.
Where does a protein powder fit?
A shake is an easy way to top up on a busy day or after a workout. So Lean & So Clean provides 23g of complete organic plant protein per serving from pea and rice, with no added sugar. If you're thinking about strength as you age, Plant Protein for Lifelong Strength has 24g of organic plant protein with ProHydrolase enzymes for absorption and organic tart cherry. For ways to use either, browse our recipes.
