This easy-to-use protein intake calculator quickly helps you figure out how much protein you need to eat for your fitness goals. Protein is a macronutrient that is crucial for building and repairing your body—especially muscle. Find out if you need to include more or less protein in your diet by using the protein intake calculator.
Daily protein intake requirements vary from person to person. Some of the factors that should be taken into consideration when calculating your daily protein intake include:
For example, highly active athletes need more protein than sedentary people [1, 2]. Runners specifically may require increased protein intake due to the damage running inherently causes. Older people (especially older athletes) need more protein to maintain muscle mass and promote bone health. Protein also promotes tissue development and growth during pregnancy [3].
Protein deficiency is rare in people not undergoing starvation. That is to say, if you are getting enough to eat most of the time, you are probably not protein deficient. Be that as it may, muscle begins to breakdown without sufficient protein intake.
It is possible to eat too much protein. Your body can only absorb around 25g of protein per hour [4]. Eating more than that amount could lead to excess protein being excreted in urine and some of it stored as glucose or fat. This has implications if you are trying to lose weight or build lean muscle mass.
Protein can play an integral role in weight loss because it makes you feel satiated (that feeling of fullness after a meal). However, eating too much protein means that you could overshoot your daily calorie goal. This could lead to weight gain, and not all of the extra weight would be lean muscle mass either.
Figure out if you’re already getting enough protein by using the above protein intake calculator. If you find that you need to increase your protein intake, first examine your current diet. Are you eating a balanced diet?
The first step to getting healthy should be to eat a diet that balances the macronutrients appropriately and includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. Fad diets high in protein, or carbs, or even fat are likely not the best diets for most people.
If you still think you need to actively eat more protein, check out these posts on how to include more protein in your diet:
Plus, put that protein to work by doing the exercises in the following articles:
