How much protein, and where to get it
What the RDA actually means, why the training figure is roughly double it, and how to reach the number on an Indian vegetarian diet.
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In short
- The 0.8 g per kg RDA is a minimum to avoid deficiency, not an optimum. Anyone training needs 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg.
- In a calorie deficit, protein is what decides whether the weight lost is fat or muscle.
- A typical Indian vegetarian diet lands around 0.6 to 0.9 g per kg, which is short for anyone training.
- Distribution matters less than the daily total, but 25 to 40 g per meal across three or four meals is the practical shape.
- High protein does not damage healthy kidneys. That finding comes from people who already had kidney disease.
Protein is the only macronutrient the body cannot store as such. Excess is either used, converted to energy, or excreted, which means intake has to be renewed daily rather than banked.
It builds and repairs muscle, makes enzymes and hormones, maintains immune function, and is the most satiating of the three macronutrients per calorie. In a deficit, it is the one variable that decides where the lost weight comes from.
The RDA is a floor, not a target
The recommended dietary allowance of 0.8 g per kilogram is the amount at which almost no healthy sedentary adult develops a deficiency. It answers "how little can a person eat without becoming ill", which is a different question from "how much is best".
daily protein(g) = weight(kg) × grams per kg for the situation, and the floor this page also shows is weight(kg) × 0.8.
| Situation | Grams per kg |
|---|---|
| Sedentary minimum (RDA) | 0.8 |
| Generally active | 1.2 |
| Building muscle | 1.6 – 1.8 |
| Losing fat, preserving muscle | 2.0 – 2.2 |
| Older adults, sarcopenia prevention | 1.2 – 1.6 |
For a 70 kg person that is 56 g at the RDA and 154 g when cutting. Nearly three times the difference, and the RDA is the number printed on food labels.
Two entries deserve emphasis. Cutting needs the most, because a deficit makes muscle a target for energy and protein plus resistance training is what protects it. Older adults need more than the RDA, not less: anabolic resistance means the same dose of protein produces less muscle synthesis with age, and sarcopenia is one of the strongest predictors of losing independence.
At high body fat, calculate from lean mass or from a target weight rather than actual weight, or the number comes out unnecessarily large.
Where it actually comes from
Per 100 g of the food as eaten:
| Food | Protein |
|---|---|
| Whey powder | 75–85 g |
| Soya chunks, dry | 52 g |
| Paneer | 18 g |
| Chicken breast, cooked | 31 g |
| Eggs (two) | 12 g |
| Toor dal, dry | 22 g |
| Rajma, dry | 24 g |
| Greek yoghurt | 10 g |
| Milk | 3.4 g |
| Roti, one | 3 g |
| Rice, cooked | 2.7 g |
The dal and rajma figures are for the dry weight. Cooked, they absorb two to three times their weight in water, so a bowl of dal delivers around 6 to 8 g rather than 22.
That single fact explains most of the shortfall in Indian vegetarian diets. A meal of two rotis, a bowl of dal and a vegetable sabzi is roughly 14 to 16 g of protein — perfectly reasonable food, and about a third of what a person training needs from that meal.
Reaching the number without meat
It requires deliberate planning rather than unusual foods.
Soya chunks are the highest-protein vegetarian staple available cheaply in India — 52 g per 100 g dry, which is roughly 26 g in a normal serving.
Paneer and curd. 100 g of paneer is 18 g. A bowl of curd adds 6 to 8 g and Greek yoghurt considerably more.
Whey or plant protein powder. One scoop is 20 to 25 g. Not necessary, and by far the easiest way to close a gap.
Combine cereals and pulses. Rice and dal, roti and rajma. Cereals are low in lysine and pulses low in methionine, and each covers the other. This does not need to happen within a single meal — the amino acid pool is maintained across the day.
Eggs, for those who eat them. Two eggs is 12 g and among the cheapest complete protein available.
A practical target-hitting day for a 70 kg vegetarian at 1.6 g/kg — 112 g — might be curd and soya at breakfast, paneer at lunch, a scoop of whey after training, and dal with rajma at dinner. It is not exotic; it is simply chosen rather than defaulted into.
Distribution and timing
The total for the day matters most. Within that, the practical shape is 25 to 40 g per meal across three or four meals, which is roughly the amount that maximally stimulates muscle protein synthesis in one sitting.
The "anabolic window" — the belief that protein must be eaten within thirty minutes of training — has not held up. The window is several hours wide, and total daily intake dominates. Someone who trains fasted and eats two hours later is not losing progress.
Older adults benefit from a slightly higher dose per meal, around 35 to 40 g, because anabolic resistance raises the threshold at which synthesis is triggered.
The kidney question
The claim that high protein damages the kidneys traces to studies of people who already had impaired kidney function, for whom restriction is genuinely appropriate.
In people with healthy kidneys, intakes up to 2.5 g per kg have been studied over periods of years without evidence of harm. Glomerular filtration rate rises with intake, which is a normal functional adaptation rather than damage, in the same way heart rate rises with exercise.
Two genuine considerations remain. Drink more water at high intakes, since urea excretion requires it. And if you have existing kidney disease, diabetes with kidney involvement, or a family history of either, the amount is a question for a doctor rather than a calculator.
Whether supplements are needed
Whey is food in powder form — a milk protein, concentrated. It is convenient and it is not magic. Someone reaching their target from meals needs none.
If you do use it, whey concentrate is the cheapest form and is fine for almost everyone. Isolate costs more and is worth it only for lactose intolerance. Plant blends — pea and rice together — are complete in combination and suit vegans.
The Indian supplement market has a documented adulteration problem. Buy from a retailer you trust, prefer brands with third-party testing, and be sceptical of a price well below the market — protein is the expensive ingredient, and cheap protein powder is usually cheap because it contains less of it.
Protein quality, and what the scores mean
Not all protein is equally usable. Two measures describe the difference.
Biological value and the older PDCAAS rank proteins by digestibility and by how well their amino acid profile matches human requirements. Whey, eggs and milk score at or near the top; most single plant sources score lower, limited by one amino acid.
DIAAS is the current standard and measures absorption at the small intestine rather than in faeces, which is more accurate. It confirms the same broad picture, with dairy and egg above legumes, and legumes above cereals.
The practical implication for a vegetarian diet is smaller than the scores suggest, for two reasons. Combining a cereal with a pulse covers both limiting amino acids, and simply eating slightly more total protein compensates for lower quality. Someone eating 1.8 g per kg from mixed plant sources is not short of any amino acid.
Where quality matters more is at low total intake, in older adults, and around training — situations where the leucine content of a single dose determines whether muscle protein synthesis is triggered at all. Whey and dairy are leucine-rich; that is most of their advantage.
Common mistakes
Counting dry weights as eaten. 100 g of dry dal is 22 g of protein and becomes three or four bowls of cooked dal. The bowl in front of you is 6 to 8 g.
Assuming a "protein" product is one. Protein biscuits, protein chips and most protein bars are ordinary food with a small addition and a large price. Read the per-100-g figure, not the front of the packet.
Treating the RDA as a target. It is a deficiency threshold and it is on food labels, which is why so many people believe they are eating plenty.
Ignoring it entirely during a diet. This is the costliest mistake, because it converts a fat-loss plan into a weight-loss plan and the difference shows up as muscle.
What this calculator assumes
- Recommendations are per kilogram of current body weight. At high body fat, use lean mass or a target weight instead.
- The activity categories map to the ranges in the table above, which reflect current sports nutrition consensus rather than the RDA.
- Food protein values are per 100 g of the food as stated — note the dry-weight caveat on dals and soya.
- It assumes healthy kidney function and no medical condition requiring protein restriction.
- This is general information, not clinical advice.