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Functional calculator

Protein target calculator.

Daily protein target tuned to your weight, goal, training status, and age — with a per-meal split and the leucine threshold that triggers muscle protein synthesis. The single most important macro for body composition, especially on a GLP-1.

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Your stats

= 80 kg of reference body weight

Your target

144
grams of protein / day
Range (low → high) g
Density g/kg of body weight
Per meal g × 4
Leucine threshold~2.5 g leucine / meal
Floor
Target
Ceiling

What that looks like

A single-meal target of 36 g could be:

115 g
Chicken breast
6
Whole eggs
1.5
Whey scoops
240 g
Greek yogurt
The math:
Base = 1.6 g/kg (the protein floor from Phillips 2016, Morton 2018)
+ Fat loss / deficit: +0.2 g/kg · GLP-1 deficit: +0.4 g/kg
+ Heavy resistance training: +0.2 g/kg · Age 60+: +0.2 g/kg
Hard ceiling: 2.4 g/kg (above this, the marginal MPS benefit flattens)
Per-meal target = total ÷ meals · Leucine threshold ≈ 2.5 g leucine / meal
Methodology

What this is and isn't.

Why 1.6 g/kg is the floor.

Phillips 2016 and the Morton meta-analysis (2018, 49 studies, 1863 participants) converge on 1.6 g/kg as the threshold above which additional protein no longer meaningfully accelerates lean-mass gain in resistance-trained populations. Below this, you leave gains on the table.

Why GLP-1 users need more.

Semaglutide and tirzepatide drive 25–40% of weight loss as fat-free mass. The protein floor matters more in caloric deficit, and more again when appetite is pharmacologically suppressed. See the GLP-1 weight-regain piece.

Leucine, not just total protein.

MPS (muscle protein synthesis) is triggered when leucine crosses a threshold of roughly 2.5 g per meal. That's ~25–30 g of high-quality protein (whey, eggs, chicken, fish, Greek yogurt). Distribute across 3–5 meals — not one giant evening dose.

Educational reference

Estimates a daily protein target for body composition and lean-mass preservation. Not a clinical prescription. Adults with chronic kidney disease, eating-disorder recovery, or specific medical conditions should set protein targets with a clinician — the numbers here assume otherwise-healthy physiology.

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