How Much Protein Do You Actually Need?
It's probably the most searched question in nutrition, and you'll get an answer from the first page of Google without even clicking anything. Studies have shown 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. Done.
Except the guideline where you live says something quite different.
The Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand — the official ones, set by the NHMRC alongside our Ministry of Health — put the recommended intake for adults at around 0.75 grams per kilogram for women and 0.84 for men. So at 100kg, that's somewhere near 75 to 84 grams a day.
That's less than half the number the training research keeps landing on.
Both are right. They're answering different questions.
The guideline is a floor, not a target
An RDI is set to stop almost everybody getting a deficiency. That's its job. It's the amount that keeps a healthy population from running short — not the amount that builds muscle, holds onto muscle while you're losing weight, or keeps you full enough to get through an afternoon without raiding the pantry.
So the guideline isn't wrong. It's just answering "how little can I get away with," which is not the question you're actually asking.
If you're training, or losing weight, or both, you want to be somewhere nearer 1.6 grams per kilogram. And if you're losing weight while resistance training, closer to 2.
At 100kg, that's the difference between 80 grams a day and 200. Which is a very different plate.
150 grams of chicken is not 150 grams of protein
This is the one that trips people up more than anything else, and it's worth stopping on.
Weigh out a 150 gram chicken breast and you have not got 150 grams of protein. You've got somewhere around 40 to 45.
That's a good serving. More than enough for one meal. But if your target is 160 grams a day, you need to do that three or four times over. Every day.
That's usually the moment the number stops being abstract. Not "eat more protein" — three or four proper servings, every day, most days.
Why it matters more when you're losing weight
As you lose weight, whatever your goal is, you'll lose some lean muscle along with the fat. That happens even if you're resistance training. Training reduces it; it doesn't eliminate it.
Holding onto that muscle is the part worth protecting, and protein is what lets you do it. It's what recovers your muscle after training and repairs the tissue you've broken down doing it.
Which is also why I keep saying that the training and the eating aren't two separate projects. The session is the signal. The protein is the material. One without the other doesn't get you much.
I've written more about how that plays out on a GLP-1, where the weight comes off fast and the muscle question gets sharper: protecting your results on Ozempic or Wegovy.
The other thing protein does, which nobody mentions
Protein doesn't digest the way carbohydrate does. It doesn't go straight into your bloodstream.
I've had clients tell me they're having protein for energy, and that isn't really what it's for — that's the carbohydrate's job. Protein takes longer to break down, and that slower digestion is exactly what you want when you're trying to change how you eat, especially if you've never really done it before.
Because it slows digestion, you don't get the same spikes in blood sugar. You feel satisfied for longer. And you're not reaching for snacks at three in the afternoon, or again at nine at night.
That's the same reason I go on about fibre. Different mechanism, same outcome — you stay full on less food, so the deficit stops requiring willpower to maintain.
What a palm-sized portion actually looks like
Plenty of people tell me straight out that they're not going to weigh their food. Fair enough. Most people won't, and a plan that depends on it isn't a plan.
So when we're building a plate — dinner, say — we're looking for a palm-sized portion of lean protein.
Lean red meat like rump steak. Chicken breast. White-fleshed fish. Tofu if you're vegetarian. It'll look a bit different across different foods and at different times of day, but the palm is the unit.
Lunch and dinner are usually straightforward — there's no rule that says you can't eat much the same protein twice. Breakfast is where it gets harder, which is why something like Greek yoghurt earns its place. Relatively low in calories, decent protein, and it takes no cooking at seven in the morning.
If you're still coming up short against a target that suits your bodyweight and what you're trying to do, a protein shake is a reasonable way to close the gap. Wherever in the day you need it — around training, or first thing, to get a decent amount in early. It's a gap-filler, not a strategy.
Do you actually need to track?
Honestly, you won't know how much protein you're eating unless you measure it for a bit. And most people don't want to track their food. It's a genuine disruption to your life and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
So sometimes I'll have a client track protein and nothing else, for a couple of weeks. Not calories. Not everything. Just protein, on a free app, long enough to see how much is actually in a portion.
That's usually all it takes. A fortnight in, you know roughly where you sit — and more often than not, you find out you've been well under.
Most people under-eat protein. Not because they don't care. Because nobody ever showed them what a day's worth actually looks like on a plate.
Which is why I don't hand out meal plans
That's the reason my nutrition plans are built as guidelines rather than a seven-day menu.
A prescriptive week of meals looks impressive and costs you a fortune in groceries, and it falls apart the first time someone else in the house wants something different. Especially with a family. What survives is knowing what a serving looks like and being able to build a plate from whatever's in the fridge.
That's a skill, and it takes a few weeks to pick up. It also lasts.
Want someone in your corner while you build it? See how coaching works →
