How much protein per pound of body weight (and per kg): cutting vs maintaining

Here's where each number comes from, how to pick between them, and why the weight you multiply by matters more than the decimal you choose.

The numbers, per pound and per kilogram

The conversion is the only maths you need: 1 kg is 2.2 lb. Divide a "per kg" figure by 2.2 to get "per pound", or multiply a "per pound" figure by 2.2 to get "per kg". The famous "1 g per pound" is 2.2 g/kg, which is why both numbers show up everywhere. Most of the research is published per kg, so if you weigh yourself in kilos you can skip the conversion entirely.

Why cutting needs more than maintaining

When you eat below maintenance, your body covers the gap from stored energy, and it isn't picky: some of that comes from fat, some from muscle. Protein is the lever that shifts the mix toward fat. A higher intake keeps muscle protein synthesis up while calories are down, so more of the weight you lose is fat and less of it is the muscle that makes you look and feel like you've lost anything.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition's position stand on protein puts the daily range for building or holding muscle at 1.4–2.0 g/kg for most people who exercise, and adds that higher intakes, 2.3–3.1 g/kg, "may be needed to maximize the retention of lean body mass" during a calorie deficit in people who lift.¹ That upper range comes from a 2014 systematic review by Helms and colleagues of lean, resistance-trained athletes dieting hard; their recommendation was 2.3–3.1 g per kg of fat-free mass, "scaled upwards with severity of caloric restriction and leanness".³

Two things to notice there. The range rises with how aggressive the deficit is and how lean you already are. And the original figure is per kilo of lean mass, not total body weight, which is the whole reason the next section exists.

At maintenance the muscle-loss pressure isn't there, so the range drops. A 2018 meta-analysis of 49 trials (1,863 people) found that during a training programme, protein beyond about 1.6 g/kg a day (0.73 g/lb) produced no further gains in lean mass.² So if you're holding weight and lifting, 1.4–2.0 g/kg (0.65–0.9 g/lb) captures almost all of the benefit; anything above that is insurance you pay for in calories.

Protein also fills you up more per calorie than carbs or fat, which matters more in a deficit than at maintenance. That's a practical reason to sit toward the upper end while cutting even if you never touch a barbell. (The longer version of the "why protein while dieting" story is in how much protein to lose weight.)

Goal weight, not current weight (if there's a big gap)

Protein need tracks lean tissue: muscle, organs, skin. Body fat doesn't need protein to sit there. So when someone at 118 kg (260 lb) with a goal of 86 kg (190 lb) multiplies 2.2 g/kg by 118, or 1 g/lb by 260, they get a 260 g target, roughly 1,040 calories of protein a day, which is hard to fit inside a deficit, and the last 70 g of it isn't doing anything the first 190 didn't.

The fix is to multiply by the weight your lean mass is closer to:

• Within about 5–7 kg (10–15 lb) of your goal: current weight is fine. The difference is noise.
• 15 kg (30 lb) or more above your goal, or a BMI over 30: use your goal weight. 86 kg × 1.6–2.2 = 138–189 g (190 lb × 0.7–1.0 gives the same 133–190 g window, rounding aside): a target you can actually eat.
• If you know your body fat percentage: you can multiply lean mass by 2.3–3.1 g/kg (1.0–1.4 g/lb) instead, which is what the Helms review did. Most people don't know it to within 5 points, and a 5-point error moves the target by 15–20 g, so goal weight is the more honest proxy.

The goal weight has to be realistic for this to work. It's a stand-in for lean mass, not a wish. If you're not sure, use the weight at the top of the normal BMI range for your height and move on.

The rule cuts the other way too: if you're at or below your goal, or you're trying to gain, use your current weight. Going lower would just undershoot.

Worked examples

Cutting, 91 kg (200 lb), goal 77 kg (170 lb). 77 × 1.6 = 123 g; 77 × 2.2 = 169 g. In pounds: 170 × 0.7 = 119 g; 170 × 1.0 = 170 g. Same window either way, about 120–170 g a day. At 4 calories per gram, the top of that range is 680 calories, which you'd want to know if your daily target is 1,700.

Maintaining, 64 kg (140 lb), lifting three times a week. 64 × 1.4 = 90 g; 64 × 2.0 = 128 g (in pounds, 140 × 0.65–0.9 = 91–126 g). Somewhere around 100 g is plenty; 128 g is the ceiling where the evidence stops rewarding you.

Cutting, 118 kg (260 lb), goal 86 kg (190 lb). Goal weight: 86 × 1.6–2.2 = 138–189 g. Current weight would have said 189–260 g. The difference at the top is 70 g, or 280 calories, every single day of a diet that already has fewer calories to spare.

Pick a single number inside your window and stop optimising it. 1.8 g/kg (0.8 g/lb) of goal weight is a good default: high enough to protect muscle, low enough to hit on a Tuesday.

How to spread it across the day

The ISSN's per-meal guidance is about 0.25 g/kg per serving (roughly 0.11 g/lb), or 20–40 g, every 3–4 hours.¹ For a 150 g target that's four meals of 35–40 g or three of 50 g. Two eggs and a Greek yoghurt at breakfast is around 30 g; a chicken breast is 40–50 g; a tin of tuna is 25–30 g. If breakfast is toast and coffee, the other three meals have to carry close to 50 g each, which is where most people quietly fall short. A list of foods that make that easier is one click away.

Don't panic about a low-protein day. The weekly average is what protects muscle, not any single afternoon.

What I actually do

I use Bocco myself, and my protein target in the app is the middle of the cutting range applied to a realistic goal weight, then rounded down to something I know I can hit on a normal weekday. A target I reach five days out of seven does more for me than a higher one I reach twice. When I'm not cutting I drop it toward the bottom of the maintenance range and stop thinking about it.

Hitting a protein number is a tracking problem, not a knowledge problem. Bocco reads your meal from a photo and returns protein grams next to the calories, so you can see whether that "40 g" meal was actually 25. If the estimate is off (the chicken was bigger, the yoghurt was the 0% one), you correct it in a sentence and the protein and calorie totals recalculate together. If you're new to logging at all, start with how to count calories and add the protein target in week two.