Protein calculator: how much protein do you need?

Free, age-adjusted, and built for adults 50+. Answer five quick questions and get a daily gram target, a per-meal target, and what that looks like in real food — no login, no email required.

Calculator

How old are you?
What is your sex? (for context only — it doesn't change your numbers)
Whole or decimal numbers both work, e.g. 165 or 74.5
How active are you most weeks?

Your daily protein target

–g / day

About – g per meal, spread across 3–4 meals a day.

  • – large eggs

  • – deck-of-cards chicken portions (85 g each)

  • – g nonfat Greek yogurt

Protein values from USDA FoodData Central and the Canadian Nutrient File. Portion-size guide: MedlinePlus.

Want CountProtein to track this for you?

The app turns this one-time number into a daily habit — snap a photo of your meal and see how close you are to your target, automatically.

Track it with the app

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

Read more: Protein after 50 · Protein basics

How we calculate this

Every number on this page traces back to published research, not a house guess. Here's the science behind each part of the calculation, with dates so you can judge how current it is.

  • PROT-AGE: more protein after 65

    Bauer et al., 2013 — Journal of the American Medical Directors Association

    An international expert group (the PROT-AGE Study Group) recommends 1.0–1.2 g of protein per kg of body weight per day for older adults — more than the standard adult RDA of 0.8 g/kg.

  • ESPEN: protein plus exercise

    Deutz et al., 2014 — Clinical Nutrition (ESPEN Expert Group)

    The European nutrition society's workshop recommendations: at least 1.0–1.2 g/kg/day for healthy older adults, with daily physical activity or exercise for as long as possible.

  • ISSN: protein and exercise

    Jäger et al., 2017 — Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

    The sports-nutrition society's position stand: 1.4–2.0 g/kg/day supports building and maintaining muscle for most exercising adults, which is why CountProtein's rate rises with activity level.

  • The per-meal dose after 50

    Moore et al., 2015 — Journals of Gerontology: Series A

    Older muscle needs a bigger per-meal dose to switch on muscle building — about 0.40 g/kg in a single meal, roughly double the dose that maximizes the response in younger adults. This is where our 0.4 g/kg per-meal target comes from.

  • Even distribution beats loading it at dinner

    Mamerow et al., 2014 — The Journal of Nutrition

    Spreading protein evenly across breakfast, lunch, and dinner produced 24-hour muscle protein synthesis 25% higher than skewing most of it toward dinner — the reason we show a per-meal target, not just a daily one.

  • The 1.6 g/kg plateau

    Morton et al., 2018 — British Journal of Sports Medicine

    A meta-analysis of 49 resistance-training studies found that muscle gains from added protein leveled off at about 1.6 g/kg/day — more did not add further benefit. That's our ceiling rate for the "lift weights 2+ times a week" activity level.

  • Kidney safety in healthy adults

    Devries et al., 2018 — The Journal of Nutrition

    A systematic review and meta-analysis found that higher protein intake did not change kidney function (GFR) in people with healthy kidneys over time — the basis for not restricting protein by default.

  • Kidney disease changes the picture

    National Kidney Foundation (KDIGO-aligned guidance)

    People with kidney disease have different, individualized protein needs set by their care team. That's why checking the kidney box above replaces our number with a doctor-consult result instead of a target.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a generic protein calculator?

Most protein calculators use one flat number for every adult. Ours is built from research on aging muscle specifically — the rate rises with your activity level (1.0 to 1.6 g/kg/day), the per-meal target reflects that older muscle needs a bigger per-meal dose, and a kidney-condition checkbox routes you to a doctor-consult result instead of guessing.

Is this calculator the same math as the CountProtein app?

Yes. The formula on this page is a direct port of the app's goal-calculation engine, and we run an automated test that pins the two together — if you get a number here, the app would show you the same number for the same inputs.

Why does checking "kidney condition" hide my number?

Protein needs with kidney disease depend on your specific stage of disease and treatment, which only your care team can assess. Rather than show a generic capped number that might not be right for you, we point you to National Kidney Foundation guidance to bring to your doctor.

Does my sex change the result?

No. CountProtein's targets are based on body weight and activity level, not sex. We ask about sex for context only and say so on the calculator — choosing a different answer will never change your grams.

Embed this calculator

Dietitians, health bloggers, and anyone else are welcome to embed this calculator on your own site, free. The widget includes a built-in "Powered by CountProtein" attribution link — please keep it visible; don't hide it with CSS. 

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  src="https://countprotein.com/embed/calculator"
  title="CountProtein Protein Calculator"
  width="100%"
  height="900"
  style="border:0; max-width:480px;"
  loading="lazy"></iframe>

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