Protein Calculator — Daily Grams by Weight and Goal

Every protein guideline in the United States is written in grams per kilogram, so an American number starts with a conversion. The current federal goal is 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg per day, set by the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines; the older RDA of 0.8 g/kg is a floor, not a target. Enter your weight in kilograms and a goal below, then read on for the pound arithmetic.

Pounds first, then grams

The calculator takes kilograms because that is the unit the recommendation is written in. To get there from a bathroom scale, divide pounds by 2.205. Skipping that step is the single most common error in protein math: multiplying 165 by 1.6 gives 264 g, which is not a target, it is a unit mistake.

Worked out for a 165 lb adult:

1. 165 lb ÷ 2.205 = 74.8 kg
2. 74.8 kg × 1.6 g/kg = 120 g of protein a day

The same body weight against each of the targets in the dropdown:

Situation	Target (g/kg)	165 lb (75 kg)	vs the federal goal
Maintenance, sedentary	0.8	60 g	below — this is the RDA floor
Active / recreational sport	1.2	90 g	bottom of the goal
Weight loss	1.6	120 g	top of the goal
Muscle gain	2.0	150 g	above the goal
Older adult	1.2	90 g	bottom of the goal
Pregnancy, 2nd/3rd trimester	1.1	82 g	the pregnancy RDA

Note the last column, because it changed recently. The 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg band is now the general recommendation, not a special regimen for people who lift. Three of the six rows in the calculator sit inside it.

A shortcut worth memorizing: 154 lb is 70 kg, so at 0.8 g/kg that person needs 56 g — which is exactly the number printed as the adult male RDA, and roughly two-thirds of what the current Dietary Guidelines ask for.

Where each of these numbers comes from

They are not all from the same place, and the difference between a requirement and a goal is the whole story.

1.2 to 1.6 g/kg is the current federal goal. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, published by HHS and USDA in January 2026, state it under “Prioritize Protein Foods at Every Meal”: “Protein serving goals: 1.2–1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, adjusting as needed based on your individual caloric requirements.” That last clause is doing real work — see protein per kg of body weight for what happens to this range on a low-calorie diet.

0.8 g/kg is the RDA, and it has not been withdrawn. It comes from the Dietary Reference Intakes, a separate product of the National Academies, and it answers a different question: the smallest intake that covers the requirement of nearly every healthy adult. The DRI tables also publish it as 56 g/day for men, 46 g/day for women, footnoted “based on 0.8 g protein/kg body weight for reference body weight.” Both numbers are current. One is a floor you should clear; the other is where the Guidelines would like you to land.

1.2 to 2.0 g/kg is from the 2016 joint position paper of Dietitians of Canada, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American College of Sports Medicine, which states that intake “necessary to support metabolic adaptation, repair, remodeling, and for protein turnover generally ranges from 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg/d.” Worth noticing: that athletic range now starts exactly where the general federal goal starts. Training no longer moves you into a different band — it moves you toward the top of one.

1.1 g/kg in pregnancy is back in the DRI, which also lists 71 g/day for pregnancy. It is a pregnancy-specific floor, and it sits just below the general goal — a wrinkle covered on protein needs during pregnancy.

Older adults used to be the case where the sources disagreed, and the disagreement has largely closed. Expert panels such as PROT-AGE recommend 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg; the federal goal is now 1.2 to 1.6, at or above that. The Guidelines also note that some older adults need fewer calories while still requiring “equal or greater amounts of key nutrients such as protein.” See protein needs for seniors.

The DRI also frames protein as 10 to 35 percent of calories for adults, the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range. It is a range for judging a whole diet, not a way to set an individual target.

Grams of protein are not grams of food

The other reliable source of confusion: 6 oz of chicken is not 6 oz of protein. Values below are per USDA FoodData Central:

Food	Serving	Protein
Egg, hard-boiled	1 large (50 g)	6 g
Greek yogurt, plain nonfat	6 oz (170 g)	18 g
Cottage cheese, 1%	4 oz (113 g)	14 g
Lentils, cooked	1 cup (198 g)	18 g
Tempeh	3 oz (85 g)	17 g
Peanut butter	2 tbsp (32 g)	7 g

Read the column on the right and a 120 g day stops looking abstract: it is roughly four servings of 25 to 30 g plus whatever the rest of the plate contributes.

Find your case

The arithmetic never changes — weight in kilograms times a target in g/kg. What changes is the target and the reason behind it:

• Protein per kg of body weight — the unit itself, and the conversion table
• For weight loss and for muscle gain
• During pregnancy and for seniors
• Vegetarian and vegan sources
• Too much protein: what the evidence shows

This content is informational and does not replace evaluation by a physician or a registered dietitian.