How much protein do you actually need?

Protein is the one part of a meal most people get vague about. Carbohydrates and fat tend to look after themselves; protein is the thing that quietly goes missing, especially at breakfast and at lunch eaten in front of a screen.

The official number

The European Food Safety Authority sets a population reference intake of 0.83 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day for healthy adults. For someone weighing 70 kg that is about 58 g a day. It is the amount considered adequate for almost everyone in the population, and it is lower than most people expect.

It is worth knowing what that number is for: it is a floor for adequacy, not a target for feeling your best. People who train regularly, who are older, or who are eating less than usual often aim higher — commonly somewhere around 1.2 to 1.6 g per kilogram. For that same 70 kg person, that is roughly 85 to 110 g a day.

A simpler way to think about it

Grams per kilogram is useful once and awkward every day after that. The version that survives a normal week is per meal:

• A palm of protein at every meal. Your palm, not someone else's — it scales with you.
• Breakfast counts. This is where most days lose 20 g or more. Toast and coffee is a carbohydrate breakfast; add eggs, Greek yogurt or cottage cheese and it becomes a meal that holds you until lunch.
• Snacks are an opportunity. Yogurt with berries, a boiled egg, a tin of tuna or hummus with vegetables all do more for the afternoon than a biscuit does.

What a palm actually is, in grams

Roughly, for cooked portions:

• 130 g chicken breast — about 39 g protein
• 120 g salmon — about 25 g protein
• 2 eggs — about 13 g protein
• 200 g Greek yogurt or skyr — about 20 g protein
• 150 g cooked lentils — about 13 g protein
• 180 g firm tofu — about 25 g protein

Three meals built like that, plus a snack, land most people comfortably in the range they were aiming for without a single calculation.

Plant-based eating

Getting enough protein without meat is straightforward; it just takes a bit more deliberateness, because plant foods are less concentrated. Beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, edamame, soy yogurt, eggs and dairy all pull their weight, and spreading them across the day works better than relying on one big source at dinner.

Can you overdo it?

For healthy adults, intakes in the range above are generally considered safe. If you have kidney disease or any condition that affects how your body handles protein, this is a question for your doctor or a registered dietitian rather than for an article.

Where to start tomorrow

Pick one meal — probably breakfast — and put a protein in it. That single change does more than any amount of arithmetic.

If you want the portions worked out for you, the 7-Day Healthy Meal Plan lists calories and protein for every day in grams, and the recipe books label every high-protein recipe so you can find one in a few seconds. For the thinking behind it rather than a plan to follow, the Balanced Eating Guide covers portions measured with your hand.

General wellness information, not medical or personalised nutrition advice. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, or managing a health condition, speak to your doctor or a registered dietitian.