How Much Protein Per Day — The Math Is Easy, Hitting It Is Not
1.6g per kg of body weight is the floor. The real problem is that actual intake often lands under half of that.
1.6g per kilogram of body weight. That is the floor the International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends for protecting muscle while losing fat. At 85kg that is 136g a day.
The math ends there. Everything after it is the hard part.
Real intake lands well under half
We looked at the meals RebelUp users actually logged.
Against a 136g target that is 40%.
One caveat: unlogged meals are missing, so true intake is somewhat higher than this. But the direction is clear — most people are short, and do not know by how much.
Why it runs short
- Rice, noodle and bread based meals fill you on carbohydrate first
- Protein is highly satiating, so eating enough crowds other food out — which also means you skip it unless you plan for it
- You cannot back-load it. Roughly 40-50g per sitting is the practical ceiling
What 136g actually looks like
- Breakfast — 3 eggs (19g) + 1 cup Greek yogurt (18g) = 37g
- Lunch — 150g chicken breast (46g) + rice = 46g
- Dinner — 120g beef (31g) + half block tofu (9g) = 40g
- Snack — 1 scoop whey = 24g
That totals 147g. The pattern to notice: one palm-sized portion of protein at every meal.
Do you need a supplement
No. Whole food is fine when you can hit the number with it. But as the list above shows, missing one meal leaves a 30-40g hole that is hard to make up later. A shake fills that gap; it is a tool, not a requirement.