The question of “How much protein do I need?” comes up often in conversation, so we thought it best to deal with the issue here on the blog.


(Side note: Hi, by the way.Yes, we’re bringing this blog back from its hiatus of almost two years. Did’ja miss us? We’ll be aiming to update this more regularly from now on, with at least a monthly post, but obviously trying to post even more often than that should time allow).


Ahem… where were we? So, back onto the question of how much protein you should be aiming to get into your diet, provided that you’re following an active lifestyle with at least a few gym sessions throughout the week.

A general rule of thumb is to aim for at least a gram of protein per pound of body weight. So for those of us working on the metric system, as in Australia, we’ll convert that. There are 2.2 pounds to one kilogram, roughly speaking. So if 1 gram of protein per every pound is the goal, then for every kilogram you should be aiming to get about 0.45g of protein daily… and that’s really a minimum. If you’re looking to gain weight or pack on muscle, then really you’ll be looking to up that amount to between 0.75 – 1g at least.

Take me as an example. I’m 85kg at the moment. Going by the bare minimum of 0.45g protein per kg body weight, that means that realistically speaking I should be packing in at LEAST 38g worth of protein into my daily diet. But, of course if I’m looking for a 0.75g dose per kg, then that takes it up to around 64g protein per day.


Looking at that figure, it’s pretty clear that I supplement my daily diet with protein shakes, using different protein powders in order to reach that goal. Generally speaking, most protein powders will supply you with between 20 – 30g of protein per serve, but be sure to read the label to make sure you’re not being gipped.

Any questions?