Protein Target: Should You Use Your Current Weight or Your Goal Weight?

This is general information, not medical advice. If you have kidney disease, diabetes or any condition that affects how much protein you should eat, check your target with your GP or a registered dietitian before changing it.

TL;DR

• The common 1.6-2.2 g of protein per kg rule comes from research on fairly lean, active people. It assumes most of your bodyweight is muscle, bone and organs.
• If you are carrying a lot of extra fat, multiply by your goal weight (or a realistic interim target), not your current weight. Fat tissue needs very little protein.
• Quick rule: 1.6-2.2 g per kg of goal weight. A rougher shortcut that lands in the same place for most adults: aim for about your height in centimetres, in grams.
• If you are already within roughly 10 kg of where you want to be, the choice barely matters. Use current weight and stop overthinking it.
• Whatever number you pick, the floor matters more than the ceiling. Hitting 130 g every day beats aiming for 200 g and managing 90.

Most protein advice gives you one number: 1.6-2.2 g per kilogram of bodyweight. For a 75 kg person who lifts, that is 120-165 g a day, which is sensible. For someone who weighs 130 kg and wants to get to 85 kg, the same maths says 208-286 g a day. That is roughly a kilo of chicken breast. Nobody needs it, and trying to hit it is the fastest way to give up on tracking in week two.

Why the Standard Rule Breaks at Higher Bodyweights

The research population

The 1.6-2.2 g/kg range comes mostly from studies of people who train and have relatively low body fat. In that group, bodyweight is a decent stand-in for lean mass, which is the tissue that actually uses protein: muscle, organs, skin, bone.

Fat tissue is metabolically real, but its protein turnover is tiny compared with muscle. Add 40 kg of fat and your protein needs do not go up by 40 × 2 g. They go up a little, mostly because carrying more weight builds some extra muscle too.

What the number is really for

Protein in a calorie deficit does three jobs: it protects muscle while you lose fat (the same principle behind body recomposition), it keeps you fuller than the same calories from carbs or fat, and it costs a little more energy to digest. All three are well served by a sensible target. None of them needs a heroic one.

Which Weight to Use

Option 1: Goal weight

Pick a realistic goal weight and multiply by 1.6-2.2 g/kg.

• Someone at 130 kg aiming for 85 kg: 85 × 1.6-2.2 = 136-187 g a day.
• Someone at 98 kg aiming for 70 kg: 70 × 1.6-2.2 = 112-154 g a day.

If your final goal feels very far away, use an interim one instead: the weight you would be happy to reach in the next 6-12 months. You can recalculate when you get there, in the same way you recalculate calories as you lose weight.

Option 2: The height shortcut

If you do not have a goal weight in mind, or you think yours is unrealistic, aim for roughly your height in centimetres as grams of protein. A 175 cm person aims for about 175 g; a 160 cm person about 160 g. Treat this as an upper end, not a minimum: 75-100% of it is a perfectly good range.

It works because height tracks the frame you need to support far better than total weight does when a lot of that weight is fat. It is a rule of thumb, not a formula, but it rarely produces anything absurd.

Option 3: Lean body mass (if you actually know it)

If you have a reasonably reliable body fat estimate, you can work from lean mass: about 2.0-2.8 g per kg of lean body mass during a deficit. The catch is the word “reliable”. Bathroom scales with bioimpedance can be off by 5-8 percentage points either way, which moves your answer by 20-30 g. Unless you have a DEXA scan, options 1 and 2 are just as good and much simpler.

When it does not matter

If you are within about 10 kg of your goal, or your body fat is in a normal range, the difference between current and goal weight is 15-20 g of protein. That is one yoghurt. Use your current weight and spend your energy on hitting the number every day instead, whatever your age; the maths holds just as well if you are tracking protein after 60.

Worked Examples

Sam: 124 kg, 180 cm, new to the gym

• Current weight method: 124 × 1.6-2.2 = 198-273 g. Not happening.
• Goal weight (90 kg): 144-198 g.
• Height shortcut: about 135-180 g.

A sensible target is 150 g a day, with 130 g as the “good enough” floor. That is four meals of 30-40 g, which is doable with normal food.

Priya: 88 kg, 163 cm, walks daily, no lifting yet

• Current weight method: 141-194 g.
• Goal weight (68 kg): 109-150 g.
• Height shortcut: about 120-163 g.

A target of 115-125 g fits her goal, her appetite and her budget. If she starts strength training, nudging it towards 140 g makes sense.

Tom: 82 kg, 178 cm, lifts 4 times a week, wants to lose 5 kg

He is close to his goal, so current weight is fine: 131-180 g. He picks 150 g and gets on with it.

Making the Number Stick

Set a floor and a target

Pick two numbers: a floor you hit almost every day, and a target you hit on good days. For Sam that is 130 g and 150 g. Logging tends to fall apart when every day under target feels like a failure; a floor gives you a win you can actually collect.

Spread it across the day

Three or four meals with 25-40 g each is easier than one enormous dinner, and it is how most people end up hitting the number without supplements. Protein distribution matters less than the daily total, but an even spread makes the total easier.

Do not let protein crowd out everything else

At higher bodyweights, calorie targets are usually generous enough that 150 g of protein fits comfortably. The risk is the other way: chasing a too-high protein number with shakes and bars, leaving no room for fibre, fruit and vegetables. If your protein target is pushing more than 35-40% of your calories, it is probably too high for your situation.

The Short Version

Use your goal weight, or your height in centimetres as a rough guide, if you have more than about 10 kg to lose. Use current weight if you do not. Pick a floor you can hit daily, log it for two weeks, and adjust based on how full you feel and how your training goes. A target you actually reach is worth more than a perfect one you abandon.