Protein: How Much You REALLY Need

If I could change one thing about how the average person eats — just one — it would be this: eat more protein. Not a fad. Not a magic powder. Just the one macronutrient that does the heavy lifting for your body, and the one nearly everyone gets badly wrong.

I've coached hundreds of people, from lads chasing their first visible abs to women navigating the menopause, and the pattern is almost always the same. They're not eating too many carbs. They're not "addicted to sugar." They're eating a pathetic amount of protein, spread across the day in a way that does them no favours, and then wondering why they're soft, tired, always hungry and losing strength. Fix the protein and a huge chunk of the problem fixes itself. This is the complete, no-nonsense guide to getting it right.

Why Protein Is The King Macro

Carbs and fats are fuel. Important fuel — I'm not anti-carb and I'm certainly not anti-fat. But protein is different. Protein is structural. It's the actual building material your body uses to make muscle, repair tissue, build enzymes, hormones, antibodies, hair, skin and nails. When you eat protein, your body breaks it down into amino acids and reassembles them into you. There is no substitute. You can survive a while with low carbs. You cannot build or even maintain a strong body without enough protein.

Here's why I bang on about it so much. Protein wins on four fronts at once:

• Muscle: It's the only macro that directly drives muscle protein synthesis — the process of building and repairing muscle tissue. Train hard but eat too little protein and you're laying bricks with no mortar.
• Satiety: Gram for gram, protein is the most filling thing you can eat. It blunts hunger hormones and keeps you full for hours. Eat enough and the constant snacking urge largely disappears on its own.
• Metabolism: Protein has the highest thermic effect of food — your body burns roughly 20–30% of protein's calories just digesting it, versus around 5–10% for carbs and 0–3% for fat. More protein also means more muscle, and muscle is metabolically active tissue that keeps your daily burn higher.
• Recovery: Every session you do creates micro-damage. Protein is what repairs it — faster recovery, less soreness, better adaptation, fewer injuries.

One macro, four wins. Nothing else on your plate works that hard.

How Much Do You Actually Need?

Now the bit everyone gets wrong — and it starts with a number that's quietly held people back for decades. You've probably heard the RDA: 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. Let me be blunt: that number is the bare minimum to stop a sedentary person becoming clinically deficient. It is a "don't get ill" figure, not a "build a strong, lean, healthy body" figure. Aiming for the RDA is like aiming to just barely not fail an exam.

If you train, if you want to build or keep muscle, if you're dieting, or if you're over 40, you need considerably more. Here's what the research actually supports:

So what does that mean in real food? Let's make it concrete. A simple, practical rule I give most clients is to aim for roughly 2 g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (or near enough 1 g per pound if you think in old money). It's easy to remember and it lands you right in the effective range.

• A 60 kg woman: aim for roughly 100–120 g of protein a day.
• An 80 kg man: aim for roughly 130–160 g a day.
• A 100 kg man building muscle: 180–200 g a day.

Protein & Fat Loss

If your goal is to lose fat, protein stops being merely important and becomes your single biggest lever. Here's why. When you're in a calorie deficit, your body wants to burn something for energy — and it will happily strip muscle alongside fat unless you give it a strong reason not to. High protein is that reason.

Eat enough protein in a deficit and three things happen. First, you hold onto your muscle, so the weight you lose is overwhelmingly fat — which is the entire point. Lose muscle and you just become a smaller, softer, weaker version of yourself with a slower metabolism. Second, protein keeps you full, which makes the deficit far easier to stick to — and adherence is what actually wins diets, not willpower. Third, the high thermic effect means a chunk of those protein calories are burned off in digestion.

Protein On Keto & Low-Carb

Eating keto or low-carb? Then protein matters even more — and it’s where a lot of people quietly go wrong. Strip the carbs right down and you’ve only got two macros left to play with: fat and protein. Lean too hard on fat alone and you’ll under-eat protein, drop muscle and stall. Keep protein high and keto becomes a seriously effective fat-loss and body-recomposition tool.

Forget the old “keto means loads of fat and barely any protein” myth. For the vast majority of people, eating plenty of protein won’t knock you out of ketosis — and the muscle-protecting, hunger-killing benefits are exactly what you want while you’re leaning down. Use the same target as everyone else (1.6–2.2 g/kg), get most of it from quality animal sources (which are naturally low-carb), and let healthy fats make up the rest of your calories.

Protein After 40 & Through Menopause

This is the section I most want you to read, because it's where the standard advice fails people the hardest — and where I do a lot of my coaching. Something changes as we age, and especially for women going through the menopause: your body becomes worse at using protein.

The technical term is anabolic resistance. In your twenties, a modest amount of protein triggers a healthy muscle-building response. As you get older, that same amount produces a weaker response — your muscles have gone a bit "deaf" to the signal. At the same time, from roughly your forties onward, you naturally lose muscle each decade (a process called sarcopenia) unless you actively fight it. For women, the drop in oestrogen through the menopause accelerates muscle and bone loss on top of all that.

Put those together and you get the cruel maths of midlife: you need more protein to get the same muscle-building effect, at exactly the age most people start eating less of it. This is why so many people over 40 feel themselves getting weaker, softer and more frail — not because ageing is hopeless, but because they're under-fuelling and under-training the one tissue that keeps them capable.

This is exactly the work I do with clients in my menopause coaching in Leeds — building strength and protecting muscle and bone at the stage of life when it matters most. It genuinely transforms how women feel in their bodies, and it starts with getting the protein right.

The Best Protein Sources

Now, where to actually get it. Not all protein is equal — quality matters. The key idea is completeness: a "complete" protein contains all nine essential amino acids your body can't make itself, in good ratios. Animal proteins are all complete. Most plant proteins are missing or low in one or more, which just means plant-based eaters need to combine sources and eat a bit more total to make up for it.

My advice for most people: build every meal around a palm-to-fist-sized portion of a quality protein first, then add your carbs and veg around it. Animal sources make hitting your target effortless. If you're plant-based it's absolutely doable — lean on soy (tofu, tempeh, edamame), combine pulses with grains, and don't be shy about a quality plant protein powder to bridge the gap.

Timing & Distribution

Here's a nuance that makes a real difference, especially as you get older: when and how you spread your protein matters, not just the daily total. Your body can only use so much protein to build muscle in one sitting. Slamming 150 g at dinner and barely any at breakfast and lunch is not the same as spreading it evenly.

The research points to a simple, powerful habit: split your protein across 3–4 meals, each containing a solid 30–40 g. That repeatedly triggers muscle protein synthesis throughout the day, rather than once. For most people, that looks like a proper protein-led breakfast (the meal most people skimp on), a substantial lunch, a solid dinner, and maybe a protein snack or shake.

Supplements — Whey, Casein & Creatine

Let me be clear: you do not need supplements to hit your protein. Real food does the job. But protein powder is a brilliant, cheap, convenient tool — it's just food in a tub — and it makes hitting a high target far easier. Here's the honest rundown:

• Whey protein: the gold standard. Fast-digesting, complete, rich in leucine (the key muscle-building amino acid), cheap and effective. Ideal around training or any time you need a quick 25–30 g. If dairy upsets you, whey isolate is lower in lactose, or go for a plant blend.
• Casein protein: the slow-release cousin. It digests gradually over hours, which makes it a popular choice before bed to feed your muscles overnight. Useful, not essential.
• Plant protein blends: for vegans — look for blends (pea + rice, or soy) so you get the full amino acid profile.

Busting The Myths

Key Takeaways

• Protein is the king macro — it builds muscle, burns fat, kills hunger and speeds recovery all at once.
• The 0.8 g/kg RDA is a survival minimum. Aim for around 1.6–2.2 g/kg (roughly 2 g/kg, or 1 g per pound) to actually build and keep muscle.
• In a fat-loss phase, high protein is your biggest lever — it keeps the muscle and burns the fat.
• After 40 and through menopause, anabolic resistance means you need more protein and heavy lifting, not less.
• Build meals around a quality protein source first; spread 30–40 g across 3–4 meals a day.
• Powder is optional but handy; creatine is the obvious next step once your protein is dialled in.
• The scary protein myths — kidney damage, "too much," women getting bulky — don't hold up. Eat up.

Disclaimer: This article is for general education and is not personalised medical or dietary advice. If you have kidney disease or any other medical condition, speak to your doctor before significantly changing your protein intake.