How Much Protein A Day to Build Muscle?

The age-old question – and one that so many people get wrong.

Depending on whether you are active or sedentary, underweight or overweight, the amount of protein your body needs for optimal health varies.

We are going to assume 2 details. 

1. Due to the title of this article, you are looking to increase muscle mass.
2. Because you are looking to increase muscle, we also assume you are living an active lifestyle with muscle building exercises. You cannot gain muscle by simply eating more protein and living a sedentary lifestyle. The protein is to recover and build up the muscle that is broken down during exercise.

If either of these assumptions are NOT true, then your daily protein requirements are less.

As you can see in the chart above, for every 1 pound of body weight you need 1-1.5 grams of protein [1]. But why the range? Contrary to popular belief, more doesn’t mean more muscle.

However, there is evidence that shows when in a caloric surplus, more calories from protein results in less fat gained than if those excessive calories were from carbohydrates or fats [2][3]. Therefore, while working to bulk and build muscle in a caloric surplus diet, err towards the “upper end” of the range to limit fat gains.  

Maximizing Muscle Protein Synthesis (How Much Per Serving) 

A common myth is that eating too much protein in one sitting is wasted. This is deceiving. Yes, consuming a lot (often believed to be more than 40g) in one sitting will not have an ever increasing effect on muscle protein synthesis, BUT it does reduce body-protein breakdown, resulting in a higher net protein balance within the body. 

Net protein balance plays an important role in the efficiency of building muscle and preventing muscle wasting.

According to one study [4], the range of effectiveness, solely in regards to muscle protein synthesis, is 0.11-0.18 g/pound of body weight /meal ( 0.4-0.55 g/kg of body weight/ meal). 

The study recommends consuming this protein over 4 meals throughout the day, however, this still leaves us short of our needed 1-1.5 g/per pound of body weight (0.18*4=0.72) for active individuals looking to gain muscle.

The Influence of Age

People over the age of 50 have a higher “anabolic resistance” meaning their muscle protein synthesis is lower when consuming protein [5]. Therefore, more protein is required for older people to maintain and/or increase muscle mass. We recommend people aged 50+ to focus on the upper end of the ranges.

Consuming more protein per sitting has not proven to negatively impact muscle proteins synthesis, so in order to both maximize muscle protein synthesis AND maximize muscle growth, individuals need to consume higher amounts of protein.  

Maintaining Muscle Mass While Dieting

The majority of the fitness community agrees that in order to gain muscle, you need to be in a calorie surplus, and to lose body fat, a calorie deficit. Because of these requirements, it is commonly believed that you cannot gain muscle while losing weight. This is a topic for another article, however, for the average person and diet, we are going to stick with the traditional understanding. 

Note - There are a number of niche and advanced diets that have evidence to suggest otherwise (i.e. ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting). 

For most, the goal here should be maintaining muscle mass while losing body fat through caloric deficit dieting. This is why bodybuilders are constantly alternating between bulking and cutting diets. They build muscle while consuming a calorie surplus and maintain that gained muscle while cutting fat by caloric deficit.

The required protein intake for maintaining muscle mass can be seen in the chart below. 

Note - As we learned earlier, consuming higher amounts of protein does not seem to have any negative side effects, AND provides a slight boost to preventing excessive fat gain during a caloric surplus diet. So it’s probably best to aim for the “upper end” range.

Notice how the required protein amounts for those looking to burn fat at current healthy weights are the same for people looking to build muscle. 

This is because the anabolic effect of a high protein diet is absolutely essential to prevent muscle loss during caloric restriction [excluding aforementioned niche diets]. 

Thermic Rates of Foods

The three macro nutrients, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, all have different thermic rates. 

The thermic effects of food (TEF) is the amount of energy required to to process and digest the food. It is estimated that upwards of 10% of your total daily energy expenditure is simply from digesting the food you take in.

• Carbohydrates: 5-15%
• Fats: 0-5%
• Proteins: 20-35% [7]

This helps explain why replacing carbohydrates and fats with more protein (while keeping total calories constant) results in more weight loss/less fat gained). 

The amount of thermic activity required varies in conjunction with the amount of physical activity. [8]

Time to Stock Up On Protein

The soundest diets all focus around real, quality, pure protein sources. In addition to clean protein supplements, we also encourage you to eat fish, chicken, beef, and or your preferred plant based protein sources. 

To hit these daily protein requirements, it requires a cognizant effort. Be conscientious of the foods you eat and the macros they contain. 

Whey Protein and Vegan Pea Protein are Life Savers

The most anabolic type of protein is whey protein. Other proteins are effective, but tend to have different amino acid profiles, most notably a decreased amount of leucine, the most anabolic of all amino acids. 

If you follow a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle and/or are intolerant of whey protein, vegan proteins and BCAA supplements (2:1:1) can be beneficial.

We make both types of proteins here at transparent labs, and no, our whey protein and vegan protein are not like the others… 

Check out our ultra-pure and natural grass fed whey protein isolate and concentrate here. We also have certified organic vegan protein consisting of pea and rice protein with no artificial sweeteners!

External Studies 

1. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults.

2. The Effects of Overfeeding on Body Composition: The Role of Macronutrient Composition - A Narrative Review.

3. A high protein diet (3.4 g/kg/d) combined with a heavy resistance training program improves body composition in healthy trained men and women--a follow-up investigation.

4. How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution.

5. Anabolic resistance of muscle protein synthesis with aging.

6.

7. The Total Specific Dynamic Action of High-Protein and High-Carbohydrate Diets on Human Subjects: Two Figures

8. The Effect of Resistance Exercise on the Thermic Effect of Food