Protein calculator (with an Indian food planner)

Most healthy adults need about 0.8 to 1 g of protein per kg of body weight a day, which is 56 to 70 g for a 70 kg person. If you lift weights to build muscle, aim for about 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg (112 to 154 g at 70 kg), and a little more while you're in a calorie deficit. Spread it over three to five meals rather than packing it into dinner.

How the calculator works

It multiplies your body weight by a range for your goal, then takes the middle of that range as a daily target and divides it by your meals.

General health. The ICMR-NIN Nutrient Requirements for Indians (2020) set the protein RDA for healthy adults at 0.83 g/kg a day. That's a safe intake for nearly everyone who isn't training hard. For a diet where most protein comes from cereals, NIN notes the requirement is closer to 1 g/kg because cereal protein is lower in quality, which is why the top of this range is 1.0.

Active, fat loss and muscle gain. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand (Jäger et al., 2017) says 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg a day is enough for most people who exercise, and that 2.3 to 3.1 g/kg may help resistance-trained people hold on to muscle during a calorie deficit. A meta-analysis of 49 trials by Morton and colleagues in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found muscle gains from training levelled off at about 1.6 g/kg a day, with the upper confidence limit at 2.2. That's where the muscle gain range comes from.

For fat loss the calculator uses 1.8 to 2.4 g/kg of body weight. The ISSN's higher numbers came from lean, trained lifters. If you carry more fat, those figures overshoot when applied to total weight.

Worked example

You weigh 70 kg, lift four days a week and want to build muscle. 1.6 × 70 = 112 g and 2.2 × 70 = 154 g, so the range is 112 to 154 g. The midpoint, about 135 g, is the planner's target. Over four meals that's roughly 34 g each.

If you have a lot of weight to lose

Protein needs follow lean mass, not fat. At 110 kg, 2 g/kg would be 220 g, which is far more than you need and hard to eat. A simple fix is to put in your goal weight, or the weight at the top of your healthy BMI range (the BMI calculator shows it), instead of your current weight.

How to hit your number on Indian food

This is where most people struggle, especially vegetarians. A typical day of two katoris of dal, four rotis, a glass of milk, a katori of curd and some paneer adds up to only about 45 to 50 g. That's fine for general health and well short for muscle gain.

The planner above uses approximate values per portion, taken from the Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT 2017) for Indian staples and USDA FoodData Central for cooked meat, eggs and dairy. Some practical swaps that move the number fast:

• Soya chunks are the cheapest vegetarian protein by a distance: about 15 g in 30 g dry.
• Paneer and hung curd give 9 g per small portion. Swap one regular curd for hung curd and you gain about 4 g.
• Besan chilla instead of a plain paratha at breakfast adds around 5 g.
• Eggs: three whites add 11 g with almost no fat.
• Chicken or fish: 100 g cooked gives 20 to 30 g, the easiest single jump.
• Whey is a food supplement, not a necessity. One scoop is usually 20 to 25 g; check the label, since brands differ.

Pulses and cereals complement each other (dal with rice or roti), so a mixed veg diet gets a decent amino-acid profile across the day. For full meal plans, see 100 g of protein on a vegetarian Indian diet and these high-protein Indian breakfasts.

Does protein timing matter?

Total daily protein matters most. Spreading it helps a bit: a 2018 review by Schoenfeld and Aragon suggests about 0.4 g/kg per meal across at least four meals for people trying to maximise muscle growth. For a 70 kg lifter, that's around 28 g a meal, which the per-meal split above roughly matches.

Limitations and who should be careful

These ranges are for healthy adults. If you have chronic kidney disease or reduced kidney function, high-protein diets can be harmful, so follow your doctor's or renal dietitian's advice. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, older age (where needs often go up) and teenagers have their own requirements. Food values are averages; cooking method and brand change them.

Protein also comes with calories. If you're cutting, check that the extra paneer and peanuts still fit your total using the calorie calculator, or log a full day in the Indian food calorie counter.

This calculator is for general information and isn't medical advice.