Your protein target is lower than the internet says and higher than you eat.

Protein is the one macronutrient where the science settled years ago and the marketing never caught up. Here’s the number, where it came from, and what it looks like on an actual plate.

The number

The 2018 meta-analysis that pooled 49 resistance-training studies found gains in lean mass stopped improving at somewhere around 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day — about 0.73 grams per pound — with the upper edge of the confidence interval sitting near 2.2 g/kg, or 1.0 g/lb. Above that, the data goes flat.

So: 0.7 to 1.0 grams per pound of goal body weight, daily. For someone at 180 lb (82 kg), that’s 125 to 180 grams. Use goal weight rather than current weight if you’re carrying a lot of fat, otherwise you’ll write yourself a target you can’t physically eat.

Where you sit inside that range comes down to one thing. In a calorie deficit, go to the top of it — protein is what protects lean mass while you’re losing weight, and LEAN is written at 1.0 g/lb for exactly that reason. Gaining or maintaining, 0.7 to 0.8 is plenty.

Distribution matters less than you’ve been told

Daily total does most of the work. Spreading it across three or four meals of 30 to 45 grams is a genuine but small additional advantage — worth arranging, not worth rearranging your life over. The mechanism is a leucine threshold of roughly 2.5 to 3 grams per meal, which about 30 grams of a mixed protein source clears comfortably.

Timing around training is the same story with a louder reputation. There’s no thirty-minute window. A normal meal within a couple of hours either side of your session is sufficient, and if that isn’t convenient, the day’s total still counts for more than the clock does.

What thirty grams looks like

• 4 oz (115 g) of cooked chicken breast — about 35 g.

• One cup (225 g) of low-fat cottage cheese — about 25 g.

• Three large eggs — about 19 g, which is why eggs on their own rarely finish a meal.

• 6 oz (170 g) of Greek yoghurt — about 17 g.

• One cup (200 g) of cooked lentils — about 18 g, arriving with 40 g of carbohydrate.

• One scoop of whey — about 24 g, and it’s food, not a strategy.

I don’t sell protein powder, I’m not affiliated with anyone who does, and if you can hit your number with meals then you have no reason to buy any.

The two things people worry about

Kidneys, first. In people with healthy kidneys, intakes in this range — and well above it — haven’t been shown to cause damage in the trials that have gone looking. If you have diagnosed kidney disease, your protein intake is a conversation with your nephrologist and not with your coach.

Plant-based diets, second. Entirely workable at these numbers. Plant proteins are generally lower in leucine and slightly less digestible, so add roughly 15 to 20 percent to the target and lean on soy, lentils, seitan, and dairy if you eat it. The people who struggle aren’t struggling because plants lack protein. They’re struggling because nobody told them to raise the number.

The honest part

Getting from 90 grams a day to 140 will do more for your training than any other nutrition change available to you, and it’s dull work: one more protein source at every meal, every day, indefinitely. Getting from 140 to 200 will do close to nothing, cost you money, and displace the carbohydrate that’s actually fuelling your fourth set. Hit the number, then stop thinking about it and go and train.