How Much Protein Should You Eat?

[Shola Sholaz]

Most of us will spend our entire lives getting in and out of diet and workout plans. We will fluctuate in weight, and the fluctuations will vary with different times of our lives. The balance to be maintained will always be an issue. Your goals, your age, your activity levels, your size, and your health status all impact how much protein you need. And although individual protein requirements ultimately depend on dozens of variables that we can't really know, there are some baseline intakes that can serve as a foundation for different groups.
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The Sedentary
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The RDA (Required Daily Amount) of 0.8 g protein/ kg bodyweight or 0.36 g protein/lb bodyweight assumes you are sedentary, uninterested in gaining muscle, and free of health issues that might compromise your lean mass. If that describes you, the RDA is a good baseline from which to experiment. Just don't go below the baseline.
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The Active
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Athletes need more protein than the average person, but perhaps not as much as most fitness enthusiasts think (or consume). Though figures vary according to different dietary scientific studies, a significant-enough portion of the strength training community swears by 1-2 g protein/lb bodyweight that it couldn't hurt to try if lower amounts aren't working for you.
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Dieters
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Weight loss involves a caloric deficit. Unfortunately, caloric deficits rarely discriminate between lean mass and body fat, while most people are interested in losing fat, not muscle/bone/tendon/ sinew/organ. Numerous studies show that increasing your protein intake during weight loss will partially offset the lean mass loss that tends to occur.
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In obese and pre-obese women, a 750 calorie diet with 30% of calories from protein (about 56 grams) preserved more lean mass during weight loss than an 18% protein diet. Another study in women showed that a 1.6 g protein/kg bodyweight (or 0.7 g protein/lb bodyweight) diet led to more weight loss, more fat loss, and less lean mass loss than a 0.8 g protein/kg bodyweight diet. Among dieting athletes, 2.3 g protein/kg bodyweight (or a little over 1g  protein/ lb body weight) was far superior to 1.0 g protein/kg bodyweight in preserving lean mass.