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About this tool
Protein target for low-activity desk lifestyles with a per-meal split, using step bands for energy and evidence-based protein ranges.
This calculator sets a daily protein target for a desk-based adult and splits it across meals, starting from the fact that the 0.8 g per kg RDA prevents deficiency rather than preserving muscle. It uses 1.0-1.2 g/kg for simply holding on to lean mass, up to about 1.6 g/kg where there is regular resistance training (the breakpoint Morton's 2018 meta-analysis found), and 1.6-2.2 g/kg in a calorie deficit. Daily energy comes from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation with an activity factor chosen from your step count using the Tudor-Locke bands, plus gym sessions costed separately with the ACSM metabolic equation so a low step count does not erase your training.
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Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
A step-based activity factor plus a MET-costed session, so a desk job with real training is not scored as sedentary.
Checks each meal against 0.24 g/kg, rising to 0.40 g/kg from age 60, which is where the muscle response actually happens.
Flags a target that falls outside the 10-35% of energy acceptable range for adults.
About 1.0-1.2 g per kilogram of body weight to hold on to muscle — roughly 70-84 g for a 70 kg adult. That is above the 0.8 g/kg RDA, which was set as the minimum to avoid deficiency in healthy adults, not as an optimum. Add resistance training and the useful range rises to about 1.4-1.6 g/kg.
For most people, yes. Morton and colleagues pooled 49 studies in 2018 and found the benefit of extra protein on lean mass plateaued at about 1.62 g per kg per day, with a confidence interval reaching 2.2 g/kg. Above that range, additional protein reliably adds cost rather than muscle.
Roughly 0.24 g per kg of body weight per meal for adults under about 60, which is 17 g for a 70 kg person and closer to 25-30 g in practice at most meals. From around 60 the dose needed rises to about 0.40 g/kg because ageing muscle responds less to the same amount. Spreading protein evenly across three or four meals works better than one large dinner.
Not the gram target directly, but it changes what the protein is working against. Prolonged sitting reduces the muscle-building signal and lowers total energy expenditure, so a sedentary day makes both the protein floor and resistance training more important, not less. The WHO's 2020 guidelines ask for 150-300 minutes of moderate activity a week plus muscle-strengthening on at least two days.
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