Calculating protein requirements for athletes: How much protein do you really need?
- Lindsey Cortes
- Mar 28
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 30
These days, it seems like every nutrition or health concern is solved by “more protein.” Want to perform better? More protein. Want to be leaner? More protein. Want to age gracefully? More protein.
Although these generalized statements may not be entirely accurate, protein is undeniably important in our diet for an athlete to recover, build and strengthen muscle, perform better, manage hunger and satiety, and stabilize blood sugar. You might be wondering, “How much protein do I need?” “How do I track protein intake?” and, of course, "How do I get more protein in my diet?" This article will first review daily protein requirements for athletes and then discuss how you can easily track protein intake and tips to increase protein intake.
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DAILY PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS for athletes
The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. I find this level of protein intake incredibly low for most people, but it is certainly unsuitable for athletes. Most athletes will do well with double the RDA, and some athletes, including teens, may need close to 2.5x the RDA, especially during growth spurts.
The International Society for Sports Nutrition guidelines have set daily protein requirements for athletes using the categories below:
Overall 1.4-2/kg/day
Power Sports: 1.6-2g/kg/day
Endurance Sports: 1-1.6g/kg/day
Intermittent Sports: 1.4-1.7g/kg/day
This can be a wide range of protein, and it may take a bit of trial and error to evaluate your health and performance to find where your body functions best. Elite athletes should generally be on the higher end of the range due to increased oxidation of branch chain amino acids and the need for greater recovery when doing 2-a-days or back-to-back training sessions. However, interestingly, beginners may also need higher protein intakes as well. Protein requirements for athletes actually decrease as one becomes more trained due to biological adaptations. So, if you’re just starting out or are an elite athlete, consider the higher end of the ranges suggested above. You should also consider a higher protein intake if you are a teen athlete or are trying to gain weight or build muscle, along with a caloric surplus and proper resistance training. However, if you’ve been well-trained for years and are focusing on maintenance and health, the lower end of the range may work just fine!
Examples of daily protein requirements for athletes based on body weight are listed below using the overall recommendation of 1.6-2g/kg. If you’re wondering how much protein you should eat daily, find a body weight similar to yours and consider the ranges.
100lbs: 63-90g protein
125lbs: 79-113g protein
150lbs: 96-136g protein
175lbs: 111-159g protein
200lbs: 127-181g protein
225lbs: 143-204g protein
PROTEIN recommendation per meal
Nutrient timing can play a role in how macronutrients like protein affect the body. Research shows benefits to body composition and recovery if protein intake is evenly distributed every 3-4 hours throughout the day. Other research shows a protein dose of 0.25g of protein per kilogram of body weight or an absolute dose of 20-40g per meal or snack . Using this guideline, a 150lb person would be suggested to eat 17g of protein per meal, or up to 40g. Understanding they might need a total protein intake of 96-136g of protein in a day, a sample of protein intake throughout the day could look like:
Breakfast 20g
Snack 17g
Lunch 30g
Post Workout 20g
Dinner 30g
Total intake: 117g per day
HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M GETTING ENOUGH PROTEIN?
Now that you know your daily protein requirements, you need to know if you are meeting them! Below are a few tips for tracking protein intake in your diet
If you don’t want to be too specific, just begin tracking your protein intake by noting whether you have a source of protein at every meal or snack. Begin to read nutrition labels to be aware of foods that are a good source of protein. You can also estimate protein intake based on the generalized knowledge of portion sizes below:
Meat or fish that is the size of a deck of cards is about 3oz and contains about 20g of protein.
1 egg is about 6g protein.
An 8oz cup of dairy milk or soy milk contains 8g of protein.
1 cup portion of high protein Greek-style yogurt or cottage cheese that looks baseball-sized contains about 20g of protein.
1 cup of beans, again the size of a baseball, contains about 15g of protein.
Of course, some athletes may want to be more specific when tracking protein intake, in which case, using a food-tracking app would be helpful. As a dietitian, I like to use an app called Nutritionix. Many diet-tracking apps will give recommendations for calories or macronutrients. However, for the sake of this exercise, you can do the calculations for protein requirements yourself and know your personal protein target, regardless of what the app recommends.
It's my personal philosophy as a dietitian that people do not need to track their diet every day. However, tracking your diet can be a great way to learn and understand which foods are helping you reach your goals. I recommend that people track their diet for 3 to 5 days. Evaluate if you are reaching your protein requirements by the end of the day or at each meal and snack. If you're not reaching your protein goal, you can review your food logs to analyze where you can improve.
Tips for increasing protein intake
If you track your protein intake and discover you are not reaching your protein requirements as an athlete, here are a few suggestions to increase your protein:
Increase the portion size of the protein foods you are already consuming. For example:
Increase from 4oz portion of meat to 5oz portion of meat for an extra 7g per of protein per ounce. If you do this for 3 meals a day, you’ve added 21g of protein.
Increase Greek yogurt or cottage cheese for an additional 6g protein per ¼ cup. If you usually eat ½ cup (12g protein) consider ¾ of a cup for a total of 18g protein or double your portion to a full cup for 21g protein.
Add additional high-protein snacks in between meals. Consider snacks such as:
½ cup Greek yogurt (11-14g protein)
2 large hard-boiled eggs (12g protein)
A 2.5oz pouch of tuna fish on whole grain toast (21g protein),
½ cup of trail mix (10g protein)
1oz string cheese with 1oz almonds (12g protein)
A scoop of protein powder blended into a smoothie (25g+ protein)
Don't forget about plant-based proteins: Swap refined grains for whole grains, which have slightly higher protein content*.
For example, 1 cup of cooked white rice has 4.5g of protein versus:
1 cup wild rice (6.5g protein)
1 cup quinoa (8.1g protein)
1 cup farro (14.5g protein)
*Remember that carbohydrates are also needed in your diet. Not every carbohydrate source has to be a high-protein source!
Incorporate nuts & seeds as a plant-based protein topping to whatever you are already eating. Here are some ideas:
Add 1 Tbsp hemp seeds on top of a salad for an extra 3.5g of protein.
Add 2 Tbsp of almonds on top of a yogurt or a bowl of cereal for an extra 4g of protein.
Add 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed into a smoothie for an extra 2.4g protein.
Buy items in bulk portions so you can choose the right portion for yourself. For example:
Buy ground meat and make your own patties or meatballs with a portion size of your choosing as opposed to pre-portioned hamburger patties or meatballs.
Individually packaged yogurts are often only 5oz or a little over ½ cups, but when you buy a large tub of yogurt, you can increase your portion size to a full cup.
Increase the variety of meat sources.
If you are getting bored eating chicken breast all the time, maybe incorporating beef burgers, steaks, ground turkey, pork chops, pulled pork, chicken thighs, and fish such as salmon, tuna steaks, trout, cod, or shrimp might excite your taste buds and help you eat a larger portion.
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