A useful target is one you can eat consistently. Start with your current body weight and goal, then spread the range over three or four meals. For maintenance, age and activity select the planning range. Building muscle and losing fat both use 1.6–2.2 g/kg; age and activity do not change those two calculations.
How the range is chosen
This is a transparent planning rule, not a clinical prediction model:
| Situation | Daily planning range |
|---|---|
| Lower activity, maintain | 1.0–1.2 g/kg |
| Moderate activity, maintain | 1.2–1.6 g/kg |
| High activity, maintain | 1.4–2.0 g/kg |
| Age 65+ maintenance minimum used here | 1.2–1.6 g/kg |
| Build muscle or retain muscle while losing fat | 1.6–2.2 g/kg |
The older-adult row is a planning choice informed by PROT-AGE: its recommendation is 1.0–1.2 g/kg for healthy older adults, and at least 1.2 g/kg for those exercising. It does not prescribe our entire table. Morton and colleagues’ resistance-training meta-analysis estimated a breakpoint around 1.6 g/kg/day, with uncertainty extending to about 2.2. That does not mean everyone needs the upper end, and it is not a longevity dose-response curve. The higher fat-loss range is a planning option, not a predicted weight-loss result.
If body weight is far from a healthy range for you, a dietitian can help choose an appropriate weight basis. Multiplying current weight by a coefficient is deliberately simple and may not suit every body composition.
Does it match the app?
Open Compare with Sarvita app to include a separate Sarvita automatic target. It follows the app’s current rule: 2 g/kg of goal weight, rounded down to whole grams and bounded to 40–400 g/day. Enter a goal weight to compare directly; if you leave it blank, this page uses your current weight as the goal weight for that comparison.
The research planning range uses current weight. The app’s automatic target uses goal weight and does not change with these age or activity selections. Manual app settings can override it. The optional comparison shows the two rules separately. Saving or sharing this tool’s plan uses the full research planning range, not the app target. Recalculating a target does not measure a change in your protein intake or health.
Spread it over meals
The calculator divides your daily range equally across three and four meals. A frequently discussed muscle-building planning reference is about 0.4 g/kg per meal, described by Schoenfeld and Aragon. This is not an absorption ceiling, and four such meals already total 1.6 g/kg. Use the meal split that fits your day.
Leucine helps signal muscle protein synthesis, but an exact universal “leucine threshold” is not a switch this calculator can measure. Protein source, total dose, age and exercise all matter. Choose varied protein-rich foods rather than treating a single amino-acid number as the goal.
An example day of food
For a 70 kg adult using the 1.2–1.6 g/kg range, the daily plan is 84–112 g, or roughly 28–37 g across each of three meals. One possible structure is yoghurt or fortified soy yoghurt with oats at breakfast, a lentil-and-tofu bowl at lunch, and fish, chicken or tempeh with vegetables at dinner. Adjust portions using the product label or your food log; recipes and brands vary. This is an example menu structure, not a claim that any unspecified serving supplies the target.
Read protein intake and longevity, creatine versus protein, muscle mass and longevity, a broader longevity diet and resistance training.
Estimate only, not medical advice. Kidney disease, pregnancy, underweight, acute illness or a prescribed diet require individual advice. Talk with your clinician or dietitian before using a high-protein target in those circumstances.