Perhaps the most debated, not to mention maligned, topic in the fitness world is how much protein we need. And if you’ve done any investigating at all into the topic, you will no doubt have bumped into this calculation: 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. (If you’re a bodybuilder, that means at least two.)
Like so much of bodybuilding folklore, the recommendation has been repeated so many times that it’s become accepted as fact. The problem is, nobody ever asks, “How do we know?” Specifically, no one knows.
The original one gram per pound rule wasn’t born from a landmark scientific study. It evolved from decades of bodybuilding experience, trial and error, magazine articles, coaches’ recommendations, and a healthy dose of “more must be better” broscience.
It’s basically just a simple rule of thumb, not a biological law.
Total Body Weight vs. Lean Body Mass: Why the “1 Gram Per Pound” Rule Fails
The problem most people have with this calculation stems from the term bodyweight. Within the confines of any scientific debate, we are talking about lean body mass, not total bodyweight. A 250-pound bodybuilder at 8% body fat has very different protein needs than a sedentary 250-pound man carrying 35% body fat. Fat tissue doesn’t require protein for maintenance the way muscle does. So you can’t include the weight of the fat. If you do, and you base your diet on your protein needs, your entire diet will be off—as in, you’ll eat too much. And what happens when you eat too much? Doughboy.
So here’s the truth: for the average adult who doesn’t lift weights—just a regular person—the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, or roughly 0.36 grams per pound. That number wasn’t designed to maximize muscle growth. It was established to prevent deficiency and maintain normal body functions in healthy adults.
Resistance training changes the equation, but not as dramatically as many people think.
Why Complete Animal Proteins Beat Incomplete Plant Proteins for Muscle Building
While the familiar recommendation of one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight has no identifiable scientific origin, decades of research have consistently shown that approximately 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass (roughly 0.7–1.0 grams per pound of lean body mass) is sufficient to maximize muscle protein synthesis in most resistance-trained individuals. Beyond that point, additional protein offers rapidly diminishing returns. Your body doesn’t suddenly build twice the muscle simply because you doubled your chicken intake.
That’s because muscle growth is limited primarily by training stimulus, recovery, hormones, genetics, and total calories—not unlimited protein.
You can’t train with half-hearted intensity, then attempt to compensate by eating another 100 grams of protein. That’s not how it works.
Muscle is built because you forced your body to adapt to progressively greater workloads. Protein supplies the raw materials for that repair, but it doesn’t create the demand. No construction project ever got completed simply because more bricks showed up at the job site.
It has been said that excess protein is “wasted.”
Not exactly, but beyond a certain point, yes, it is. Protein can be oxidized for energy, converted into glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis, or used in countless other metabolic processes. Amino acids are incredibly versatile. Your body doesn’t casually throw them away. What it won’t do is continue building muscle simply because amino acids keep pouring in.
Why Complete Animal Proteins Beat Incomplete Plant Proteins for Muscle Building
Your body can manufacture certain amino acids from carbohydrate and fat metabolism. These are called non-essential amino acids because the body synthesizes them on its own. The essential amino acids, however, must come from dietary protein because the body cannot produce them. That’s why the type of protein you eat matters more than simply tracking gram totals. You need to base your calculation on complete protein – that would be protein from and animal source. Plant based proteins are not complete. You have to combine them with one or more plant proteins to complete the amino acid chain. That’s fine if you like being chubby. Combining incomplete plant proteins to build a complete protein – comparable to animal protein- is calorically inefficient. You’d have to eat about 500 calories worth of rice and beans to equal the complete protein found in a 3.5oz can of tuna (about 100 calories).
In practical terms, carbohydrates also contribute indirectly to muscle maintenance. When glycogen stores are adequate and calories are sufficient, the body is less likely to break down protein for energy, allowing more dietary protein to be used for growth and repair. Protein and carbohydrates work together far more than they’re often portrayed as competing nutrients.
The bottom line is this: if you’re training hard—really hard—and eating approximately 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass, you’ve probably covered your bases. It’s going to take journaling and doing the math to dial in your plan, but this is a really good starting point.
Most lifters eat too much, don’t train hard enough, and don’t rest enough. And if they’re taking gear, they’re taking too much. Simply adding another hundred grams of protein isn’t likely to produce another ten pounds of muscle. Your training, diet, and recovery will.
Adequate protein intake is vitally important. The amino acids it contains are inarguably requisite for muscle growth and repair, but it wouldn’t be accurate to say it’s the magic sauce, nor is it prudent to think more is better. To build and repair muscle, the process is regulated by several separate, yet equally important, factors: the training stimulus that creates the demand for muscle; enough calories to fuel intense workouts; and the nutritional building materials required to rebuild what you broke down in the gym. But no matter how many truckloads of material you deliver to the job site, nothing gets built until somebody starts swinging a hammer.