Why protein earns its priority
Protein is the one macro your body can't meaningfully stockpile, and the one doing structural work: maintaining and building muscle, keeping you full, and costing the most energy to digest. In a deficit it's the difference between losing fat and losing weight; in a surplus it's what turns extra calories into tissue worth having.
The working ranges
Official minimums (around 0.8 g per kg of body weight) prevent deficiency — they don't optimize anything. For people who train and manage their weight, research consistently supports much more, roughly 1.6 to 2.4 grams per kilogram of lean mass depending on goals: higher when dieting, when very active, and as you age (older muscle responds less to the same dose).
Lean mass — not total weight — is the honest denominator, which is why your plan asks for a body-fat estimate and raises the target automatically in a deficit, with high activity, and from 40 onward.
Hitting it in practice
- Spread it across the day — every meal carrying some protein beats one giant dinner.
- Anchor meals on a protein source first; let the rest of the plate fill in around it.
- More than the target isn't harmful for healthy people — just usually unnecessary, and those calories often serve you better as carbs or fat.
The daily protein ring in your journal is the one most worth closing.