How much protein should I eat?

For an active adult, roughly 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight a day, or about 0.7 grams per pound, is a sensible target for muscle. The official 0.8 g/kg is only the amount that prevents deficiency, not the amount that is optimal.

Do older adults need more or less protein?

More. Aging muscle responds less to protein, so older adults should aim above the standard recommendation, at least 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram and higher if they exercise, to protect against muscle loss.

Can too much protein hurt my kidneys?

In people with healthy kidneys, higher protein intakes have not been shown to cause harm. Anyone with existing kidney disease should set protein targets with a clinician.

How much protein is too much?

For healthy people, no intake has clearly been shown to cause harm, but there is a practical ceiling: beyond roughly 2 grams per kilogram a day you get no extra muscle benefit, so more just crowds out other food. Anyone with existing kidney disease should set targets with a clinician.

What are the signs you are not getting enough protein?

They are vague and slow to appear: a gradual loss of muscle and strength, poor recovery from workouts, thinning hair or brittle nails, and lingering hunger. Because they creep in, the fix is to hit your target proactively rather than wait for symptoms.

Whey isolate or concentrate, which is better?

Isolate for most people: it is higher in protein, lower in lactose, and easier on the stomach. Concentrate is cheaper and perfectly good if lactose does not bother you. Hydrolysate absorbs a little faster but costs more for a benefit most people will not notice.

Is plant protein as good as whey?

Close, with two tweaks. Choose a complete source, such as a pea-and-rice blend, and aim a little higher per serving, since plant protein is lower in leucine and slightly less digestible. Done that way, it builds and keeps muscle well.

Is protein powder necessary?

No. Whole food is the better source. Powder is simply a convenient way to hit your target when food alone falls short, around training or on busy days, which is a perfectly good reason to use it.

Does protein help with weight loss?

In two ways: it is more filling than carbohydrate or fat, and it preserves muscle while you lose fat, so more of the weight lost is fat. It is a tool for better body composition, not an appetite switch.

How much protein should I eat on a GLP-1 medication like Ozempic or Mounjaro?

The same target as anyone keeping muscle, roughly 1.6 grams per kilogram, which is just harder to reach on a suppressed appetite. Put protein first at each meal, lean on a shake to close the gap, and add resistance training so the weight you lose is fat, not muscle.

How Much Protein Do You Actually Need? | MeMurton Labs

The supplement most people underdo

It is the supplement most people get too little of, the official recommendation is a floor that gets mistaken for a target, and the shortfall widens with age, exactly when muscle matters most. This is one of the strongest single dietary levers worth nudging upward for healthy aging.

What protein actually does

Protein is the raw material your body builds and repairs itself from. Muscle above all, but also enzymes, hormones, immune cells, and the structure of skin and bone. Unlike fats and carbohydrates, the body keeps no real reserve of spare protein, so it has to arrive regularly from food.

The headline use, and the one with the strongest evidence, is muscle. And muscle is not just for strength or looks. It is a metabolic organ that helps clear blood sugar, protects you in a fall, and allows you to keep your independence as you age.

How much you actually need

The official recommendation, about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, is only enough to prevent deficiency in an average sedentary adult. It is a floor, not a target, and almost no one focused on muscle or healthy aging should settle for it.

How much higher to aim is best thought of as a ladder. Around 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight is a reasonable baseline for general health, and about 1.6 grams per kilogram is the target for actively building and keeping muscle, the point where, across 49 studies in people who train, the benefit of more protein leveled off ^[1]. To skip the math, the table below turns those two targets into grams of protein per day at a range of body weights.

Body weight	General health (1.2 g/kg)	Building muscle (1.6 g/kg)
55 kg / 120 lb	65 g	90 g
70 kg / 155 lb	85 g	110 g
80 kg / 175 lb	95 g	130 g
90 kg / 200 lb	110 g	145 g
100 kg / 220 lb	120 g	160 g

The official 0.8 g/kg floor would put that same 70 kg person at only about 55 grams a day, which shows how far below a useful target it sits.

Why it matters more as you age

As you get older, your muscles respond less to a given amount of protein, a blunting called anabolic resistance, which means older adults need more protein than younger ones, not less, to hold onto muscle ^[1]. An expert panel on aging recommends older adults aim well above the standard floor, at least 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram, and toward the same 1.6 gram muscle target if they train ^[2].

This is not a minor point. Losing muscle with age, called sarcopenia, is one of the surest paths to frailty, falls, and lost independence. Combined with resistance training, creatine, and adequate protein is among the most powerful things you can do to keep the muscle that keeps you mobile. The training is not optional here. Protein supplies the bricks, but exercise is the signal to lay them; without the signal, the extra protein has no job to do.

Protein and staying lean

Protein also plays a critical role in body composition. Higher-protein meals increase fullness and the hormones that signal it, which makes eating well a little easier ^[3]. The more important benefit shows up when you are losing weight. A higher-protein diet helps you keep muscle while you shed fat, so more of what you lose is the fat you actually wanted to get rid of ^[3]. Protein is how you change your body composition, not just the number on the scale.

Protein when the weight is coming off fast

Rapid weight loss has a hidden cost: a good share of what you lose can be muscle, not just fat, which is the opposite of what a strong, capable body needs. This matters most for the growing number of people on GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound), where appetite drops sharply and the weight comes off quickly.

The protein rules do not change, they just matter more and get harder to follow. Your target is the same, but a suppressed appetite makes it easy to fall well short, which is exactly when muscle is lost. Two things protect you. Keep protein first at every meal, even a small one, so the little you eat is working hardest. And keep training, since resistance exercise is the signal that tells your body to hold onto muscle rather than surrender it. A protein shake earns its place here more than anywhere, delivering a full serving without much volume when you can barely finish a plate.

Food first, powder second

The best protein comes on a plate. Whole foods, meat, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, and soy, bring protein along with nutrients a scoop cannot. Spread it across the day rather than saving it all for dinner. A solid serving of protein at each meal, roughly 25 to 40 grams, suits how your body uses protein better than one large hit.

Powder is a convenience, not a requirement. It earns its place when you struggle to reach your target from food alone, around training, or on a rushed morning, which is exactly where many people fall short.

If you want a marker that reflects your protein nutrition over time, albumin is the closest one on a standard panel, though it answers to your liver and your inflammation too.

Whey: isolate, concentrate, or hydrolysate

If you go with whey, you will meet three versions on the shelf, and the differences are easy to sort.

Concentrate is the least processed and the cheapest. It is roughly 70 to 80 percent protein, keeping a little more of the milk's carbs, fat, and lactose. For most people it is perfectly good, and if lactose bothers you, it is the one most likely to do it.
Isolate is filtered further, to around 90 percent protein, with most of the lactose and fat stripped out. It costs a bit more, mixes thin and clean, and is the easiest on a lactose-sensitive stomach. This is the sensible default for most people, and it is what our pick is.
Hydrolysate is isolate that has been partly broken down, or predigested, so it absorbs slightly faster. It is the priciest and often the most bitter, and for everyday use that extra speed buys you very little. Worth it only in specific athletic situations, not for general health.

If you eat plant-based

Plant protein works, it just asks for a little more attention. Two things set it apart from whey.

The first is completeness. Whey and other animal proteins carry the full set of essential amino acids in good proportion. Most single plant proteins run short on one or another, pea is a little low in methionine, rice a little low in lysine, so the answer is to combine them. A pea-and-rice blend covers the gaps, so choose a blend like that over a single-source pea or hemp powder.

The second is leucine, the amino acid that switches on muscle building. Gram for gram, plant proteins carry less of it than whey and digest a little less efficiently. The fix is simple: aim a bit higher, closer to 40 grams a serving than 30. That matters most for older adults working to hold onto muscle. And as with any plant powder, mind the heavy-metals point below, since plant-based powders test higher for lead on average.

What's in the tub: what to skip, what's fine

A good protein powder is mostly protein with a short, boring ingredient list. Many are not, so it helps to know which extras are harmless and which are worth avoiding. Here is a real label, the kind you will actually meet, read from the point of view of someone who just wants clean protein.

Basically harmless:

Sunflower lecithin and silicon dioxide are an emulsifier and an anti-caking agent, there in tiny amounts to help the powder mix and pour. Nothing to worry about.
Steviol glycosides is stevia, a plant-based sweetener with a clean safety record.
Mono- and diglycerides and sodium caseinate are a texture aid and a milk protein. Fine for most, though sodium caseinate is dairy, so a strict dairy-avoider would skip it.

Reasonable to avoid, if you can:

Artificial flavors and sucralose. A scoop of sucralose is still far better than a scoop of sugar. But if you are drinking this daily for years, it is fair to prefer a version without them, and some people find sucralose unsettles their gut.
A seed-oil creamer. The sunflower oil is there as a non-dairy creamer for mouthfeel. There is no good reason to want a refined seed oil in something you bought for protein, so it is an easy one to leave on the shelf.
Maltodextrin. A fast-digesting carbohydrate used as filler and to add body. It waters down how much of each scoop is actually protein and spikes blood sugar, so it is worth skipping in a product you chose for the protein.
Thickening gums such as xanthan and cellulose gum. Harmless for most, but a common trigger of bloating and gas if your gut is sensitive.

Beyond the label, the best powder is the one you will actually use, so pick a flavor and texture you like. The Essential Whey Protein linked below in strawberry is my absolute favorite!

Don't skip the heavy-metals check

This is the one that matters most, and it is not hypothetical. When Consumer Reports tested popular protein powders, more than two-thirds had more lead in a single serving than its experts consider safe for a day, and plant-based powders averaged about nine times the lead of dairy-based ones, with chocolate flavors worse still ^[4]. Lead and cadmium come from the soil the plants or feed grew in, so they concentrate when the protein does. Levels vary widely by product, which is exactly why you want one that carries independent testing such as NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport, and why plant-based and chocolate powders are the ones most worth checking.

The bottom line

Protein is the rare case where the honest advice is to aim higher than the label suggests, and higher still as you age. Build your meals around a real serving of it, push your daily total toward roughly 1.6 grams per kilogram if you are active, keep training so the protein has work to do, and reach for a powder only to close the gap that food leaves. Done consistently, it is one of the highest-return habits there is for staying strong, lean, and independent for the long run.