How much protein in grams do I need at 88 kg on 1,400 kcal a day?

Concretely: 88 kg · 1,400 kcal.

Please show the division. I want to check my own against yours.

I would like the general form as well as the specific number, so I can apply it again.

Is my approach right even if my number is wrong?

141 to 194 g a day. The range the resistance-training literature supports is 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilogram, which at 88 kg is 141–194 g. At 4 kcal per gram that is 563–774 kcal, or 40–55 per cent of a 1,400 intake — which is why protein has to be planned first at this energy level rather than fitted in afterwards. Split it across three or four servings; roughly 0.4 g/kg per meal saturates the synthetic response and the surplus in one large serving does not carry over.

Answering this needs to know whether appetite is suppressed, because in this class the practical problem is achieving intake rather than choosing a target.

Per meal, roughly 0.4 grams per kilogram saturates the synthetic response in most adults, which is about 30 to 40 grams for a typical person. Beyond that the surplus is oxidised or used for other purposes rather than adding to synthesis.

Put another way, hydration requirements rise modestly with protein intake because urea excretion increases, which is a real effect and a small one.

Healthy kidneys tolerate this fine. Diseased ones are a clinical question.

The relevant physiology is the per-meal saturation of the synthetic response, which is why one large serving does not substitute for three moderate ones.

The leucine threshold for triggering the response is around two and a half to three grams per meal. Thirty grams of most animal protein reaches it; thirty grams of many plant proteins does not, which is why plant-based targets run higher.

To be exact about it, appetite suppression makes protein-rich foods harder to eat because they are satiating. Liquid protein and leaner, less voluminous sources are the usual practical workaround.

Leucine threshold effects are documented across protein sources and explain the difference in per-serving requirements between animal and plant proteins.

Nothing here is dietetic or medical advice.

1.6 to 2.2 g/kg of reference weight, split three or four ways. That is the answer.

edited 27 Jun 2026 by amara_nwachukwu — added the placebo-arm figures

Start with which body weight the target is calculated from, because using total weight in someone with substantial adiposity inflates the number without benefit.

Older adults need more per meal to overcome anabolic resistance, with 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg daily commonly quoted for maintenance and more in a deficit.

Worth being precise here: high protein intakes do not damage healthy kidneys in the published evidence; existing kidney disease is a genuine exception and is a clinical question.

Targets are population estimates; individual requirements vary and there is no cheap way to measure yours.

Plan protein first in the day; with suppressed appetite it will not happen otherwise.

Plant-based patterns need somewhat higher totals and more attention to leucine content per serving to produce an equivalent response.

Use reference or adjusted body weight rather than total weight where adiposity is substantial: a common approach is ideal body weight plus a quarter of the excess, which avoids targets that no one could eat.

Meta-analytic estimates place the plateau of the dose-response for lean-mass retention with resistance training around 1.6 g/kg, with a confidence interval extending to about 2.2.

Research-use compounds are not approved for human use, and no supplement substitutes for total intake.

Per-meal saturation is real. One enormous serving does not do the job of three.

Protein is also the most satiating macronutrient per kilocalorie, which makes hitting the target easier than it sounds once it is prioritised.

A practical construction: 30 to 40 grams at each of three meals plus a 20 to 30 gram snack covers most targets without any protein powder at all.

The caveat is that anyone with chronic kidney disease has a genuinely different protein calculation and needs it done by a clinician.

Plant-based patterns need a higher total and more attention per serving.

edited 15 May 2026 by sian_llewellyn — added the method parameters