The official recommendation versus what people who train actually need — with the numbers laid out.
The RDA of roughly 0.36g per pound of bodyweight is the amount that prevents deficiency in a sedentary person. It was never meant as an optimal figure for someone lifting weights, losing fat, or over forty. Treating it as a target is like treating the speed limit as a recommended speed for a race.
For general health with light activity, around 0.5-0.7g per pound. For building muscle while training hard, roughly 0.7-1.0g per pound. For fat loss — where protein does the most work, protecting muscle and controlling appetite — the higher end of that range, around 0.8-1.0g per pound of goal bodyweight. Older adults generally need more than younger ones for the same effect, not less.
Total daily protein matters most, but spreading it across three or four feedings is modestly better than cramming it into one. Practically: aim for a solid protein source at every meal rather than a chicken-breast dinner after a carbohydrate-only day.
Animal proteins — meat, fish, eggs, dairy — are complete and highly digestible. Plant proteins vary; combining sources across the day handles it easily. Be careful with foods marketed as high protein that contain eight grams a serving. Read the number, not the label.
In healthy people with normal kidney function, high protein intakes have repeatedly failed to show harm in the research. The practical limit is usually appetite and cost, not physiology. If you have existing kidney disease, that's a conversation with your doctor.
If an old injury is the reason your training isn't consistent enough for any of this to matter, REBUILD handles that side.
Protein-dense low-volume foods — Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, whey, lean deli meat, tuna. Liquid protein when solid food is unappealing. Front-load the day. A greens or fiber blend like Dolce Superfoods alongside a shake covers micronutrients without adding volume you can't manage.
Roughly 0.7-1.0g per pound of bodyweight daily, paired with progressive resistance training.
The anabolic window is far wider than marketing suggests. Total daily intake matters much more than timing within an hour.
No. It's convenient. Whole food works identically if you can eat enough of it.
Your schedule, your appetite, your training history, your injuries — applied instead of explained.
One email a week: what actually works in training and nutrition, minus the hype.