In this lesson, I will answer a question that I've gotten from students so many times I stopped counting how much protein exactly should you consume per day? While this question sounds pretty straightforward, there is no one size fits all answer here. Why? Because your ideal protein intake will depend on a variety of factors such as your weight, muscle mass, and most importantly, your fitness goals. Your average person will have completely different protein needs than a professional athlete or a 300 pound bodybuilder. With this in mind, I will not show you how much protein you need for three specific cases.
One to simply live a healthy life to to build muscle and three to lose fat. The first case is pretty simple. The US Department of Agriculture recommends 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day for the average person. Now this value might seem very low to you, and that's because it is 0.36 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight is more or less what is necessary for the average person to survive without any major deficiencies? Obviously, you don't just want to survive. So your daily intake should be a little higher than this.
Depending on how active you are, I recommend a range from 0.5 to 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight for the average person not looking to build muscle. Now, what if you want to build muscle? This takes us to the second case, how much protein should someone consume that is working out and looking to grow muscle mass? If you ever joined a bodybuilding or fitness forum, then you will probably notice that this question pops up a lot and it usually triggers a lot of debate. I always laugh when I read these discussions because people either post values that are way too high or way too specific. For example, they will tell you that you have to consume exactly 1.5 grams per pound of body weight or you will build no muscle at all.
Of course, this is nonsense. What makes a lot more sense is to define a daily intake range that is in line with scientific studies and personal experience. If we look at the present literature on protein intake for anyone looking to build muscle, the ideal daily intake always lies anywhere between 0.8 grams and one gram per pound of body weight. If you're below this range, your body will not build muscle at the optimal rate. However, if you go above this range, then you'll see no increase in protein synthesis, which is the rate at which new proteins and therefore new tissue is built. Interestingly, this range is also pretty close to the old bro science advice of one gram of protein per pound of body weight.
Now what if you want to lose fat instead of building muscle? Does this range change? The short answer is no, not really. When losing weight, your primary goal is always to maximize fat loss and preserve lean muscle mass. To achieve this, a high protein diet is very important. So stick to around one gram of protein per pound of body weight, which definitely counts as a high protein diet.
If you're at a severe calorie deficit, which I don't recommend, by the way, you might want to go as high as 1.2 grams per pound of body weight. But one gram of protein per pound of body weight will work for most people, I for example, have never gone above this value. follow this rule and combine it with a smart dieting and workout plan and you're good to go.