Your protein number

The table, if you would rather not type

Split it across three or four meals, 25 to 45 grams each. Four 25-gram meals beat three you cannot finish. If you are not lifting yet, 0.7 is your number; more protein without lifting does not build muscle. Lifting does, and then you work up toward 1.0.

What 30 grams actually looks like

The ones at the bottom are real food. They are just not how you get to 30. Build the plate around one thing from the top half, then add the rest.

Why ideal body weight and not the number on the scale

Protein feeds lean tissue, not fat. Scaling it to a 250-pound body prescribes protein for weight that does not use it, which is why the guidelines for people carrying extra weight set protein per pound of ideal weight [54]. Ideal weight here is the bedside estimate dietitians use [52]. It is a starting point. If you and your doctor have a goal weight, that wins. If you are already below your ideal weight, use your actual weight.

Why this number and not the old one

Past 40, muscle answers less to both food and training; researchers call it anabolic resistance [28]. That is why the old advice, about a third of a gram per pound, is too low. In older women who lift, muscle kept improving as protein went past the old recommendation [29]. Across 49 trials of adults who lift, the gains levelled off near 0.7 grams per pound, with the confidence interval reaching 1.0 [1]. When weight comes off by diet alone, some of it is muscle; enough protein helps keep it, and lifting while you lose prevented almost all of that loss in a review of six trials [16] [15]. Expert groups writing for people on GLP-1 medicines recommend at least 1.2 grams per kilogram, spread evenly, plus resistance training [25] [26]. Our 0.7 sits inside that; our 1.0 is the top of the evidence.

You do not need leucine pills, collagen "protein" or amino-acid drinks to hit your number. In a controlled trial, older women lifting with enough protein gained the same muscle with or without added leucine [30]. Collagen does not switch on muscle building the way real protein does [46]. High protein intakes are safe for healthy adults [39].