Protein Calculator for Weight Loss

The joint advisory on nutrition during weight reduction, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2025, suggests 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day while you are actively losing weight. For a 70 kg person that is 84 to 112 g a day, with a midpoint of 98 g. This calculator uses exactly that row when you pick "Lose weight" and do not lift weights.

The number sits above the 0.8 g per kilogram recommended allowance for healthy adults, which the advisory cites as a floor. The advisory describes its own guidance as a synthesis of guidelines and expert opinion, so read the range as a starting point and not as a requirement.

The same advisory gives an absolute reference as well as a per-kilogram one: 80 to 120 g of protein a day may be easier to follow, because it is one number you can plan around. If your per-kilogram range lands close to that band, either way of thinking gives a similar target. At higher body weights the two can drift apart, and the advisory says guidance is uncertain about which body weight to use, so the calculator shows both.

Published per-meal guidance from the International Society of Sports Nutrition is 20 to 40 g of protein, or about 0.25 g per kilogram of body weight. At 98 g a day, three meals give about 33 g each, four give about 25 g and five give about 20 g. Both three and four meals land inside the per-meal band, so pick the pattern that fits your day.

Under the result the page builds seven example days at your calorie level from real plans in the Mealyno library. Each day meets your midpoint, and no meal name repeats in the week. Switch to five meals a day and the preview builds days from smaller meals of 450 kcal or less.

Inside the Mealyno app the default protein target in a deficit is 2.0 g per kilogram, which is the top of the ISSN range for exercising adults. That is higher than the 1.2 to 1.6 g per kilogram row used here. The calculator shows the published ranges so you can see both and decide with a clinician or dietitian what suits you.

Start from the midpoint, then check the split against a normal day of food. The guides show what 100, 120 and 150 g looks like in real meals, and the list of foods ranked by protein per 100 kcal helps when calories are tight. Calories still matter: use the calorie calculator to set them, then come back with the result in the address as ?kcal= so the example days match.

A person weighing 70 kg who wants to lose weight: 70 x 1.2 = 84 g and 70 x 1.6 = 112 g, midpoint 98 g. At 1,600 kcal that is 25% of calories from protein at the midpoint.

A person weighing 60 kg gets 72 to 96 g. A person weighing 90 kg gets 108 to 144 g, and the advisory's caution about which body weight to use applies more strongly there.