General target: roughly 1 gram of quality protein per pound of lean body weight or desired body weight per day (some simplify to just body weight).
Recommended sourcing split: about 60-70% from whole foods (lean meats, chicken, eggs, fish, or vegetarian combinations like beans and rice, or casein), with the remaining ~30% (up to 50% if struggling to eat enough total protein) from protein powder or bars such as Whey Protein.
Collagen Protein & Bone Broth and bone broth count toward the total daily protein target too, but shouldn't be relied on as a primary high-leucine source given their weak amino acid profile — see Leucine.
Calibration anchor: Huberman cites his own numbers (~220 lbs, recently closer to 210 lbs, tracked intake of 175-210 g/day protein) while noting he isn't neurotic about hitting an exact daily gram target.
Dr. Layne Norton (evidence-based nutrition/training coach) puts the practical target at roughly 1g protein per lb bodyweight (~1.6g/kg) to near-maximize muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and general health benefits. Intakes above this show diminishing but plausibly nonzero returns — modeled as an asymptote/saturation curve, not a hard ceiling with zero marginal benefit past some cutoff.
Distribution barely matters once total is controlled. How protein is spread across meals, and the choice of time-restricted-feeding window (early vs late), show no meaningful difference in outcomes (including HbA1c) once total daily protein and calories are equated in controlled feeding trials. Total daily intake is the dominant lever, not timing.
Why the old "30g max per meal" rule is misleading: the apparent ceiling on a single dose isn't amino acids being "wasted" — it's a refractory "muscle full" response. The MPS signal rises steeply, peaks, and becomes transiently refractory to further stimulation regardless of more incoming amino acids, roughly independent of the biochemical mechanism described in Leucine. This is consistent with newer studies showing >100g single doses still producing measurable (if diminished) extra synthesis.
Post-workout timing matters less than total daily intake. For people training once a day, total carb/protein intake over ~23–24 hours drives glycogen replenishment and recovery far more than an "anabolic window"; immediate post-workout timing only matters for multi-event or endurance athletes needing fast re-fueling.
Source: Layne Norton, Tools for Nutrition & Fitness — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD0bRU1e1ZM
Total daily protein (~0.7 g/lb, or 1.6-1.7 g/kg) is the primary lever for body composition; timing of individual doses is "a distant secondary concern" — "the icing on the cake." (Alan Aragon, [How to Lose Fat & Gain Muscle With Nutrition](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_1zlead9ZU))
The old "25-30g protein max per meal" rule is a debunked myth: it conflated whole-body protein utilization with the muscle protein synthesis (MPS)-specific dose-response curve. McNaughton (2016) showed 40g out-performed 20g; Trommelen showed 100g beat 25g post-exercise. The actual maximal anabolic per-meal dose is roughly 0.4-0.6 g/kg (~0.2-0.25 g/lb) — higher than the old ceiling but still finite.
The post-workout "anabolic window" (Ivy & Portman's 30-60 minute nutrient-uptake dash) was derived only from subjects who trained fasted, and doesn't generalize to people who eat before training. The real anabolic window is the 24-72 hour post-training MPS elevation, not a sprint to the fridge after a set.
See also Leucine, Whey Protein, and Body Recomposition (Recomp) Without a Caloric Deficit (very high total protein intake driving spontaneous fat loss).
The 0.8 g/kg/day RDA is a minimal-deficiency threshold derived from flawed nitrogen-balance methodology (variable food nitrogen-to-protein ratios, incomplete urine collection, non-urinary nitrogen losses), not an optimal target. Stable isotope tracer studies (L-13C phenylalanine oxidation) put the true minimum requirement closer to ~1.2 g/kg/day, 30-50% above the RDA — see Evaluating Nutrition & Fitness Evidence for the methodological critique.
Because the body has no dedicated amino-acid storage depot (unlike fat-as-triglyceride or glucose-as-glycogen), skeletal muscle functions as the body's amino-acid 'storage tank' — insufficient intake triggers muscle catabolism directly. Dose-response on muscle protein synthesis and lean mass saturates around 1.6-2 g/kg/day for most people, with diminishing but nonzero returns to ~3 g/kg; only elite/endurance athletes see benefit above 2-2.2 g/kg.
Practical guidance (Peter Attia / Andy Galpin, Drive Podcast ep. 369): target ~1.6-2.2 g/kg/day (practically ~2 g/kg) rather than the 1.2 g/kg floor, because undershooting protein causes more harm than overshooting causes benefit — an asymmetric-target-range strategy (aim high so a bad day still clears the floor). No human clinical evidence shows harm from intake up to 2.5 g/kg/day in people with normal kidney function; renal failure patients are the one group needing restriction.
Older adults face anabolic resistance — a blunted muscle response to a given protein dose — that rises with age but is driven mainly by inactivity, not aging itself (see Leucine for the transporter mechanism); resistance training largely restores it, though older adults still need roughly double the protein dose of younger adults for the same synthesis response. Overweight/obese individuals should calculate targets from target/lean body weight, not actual body weight, to avoid overestimating needs.
Muscle and strength loss in aging is argued to occur as discrete, non-recoverable step-drops tied to catabolic crisis events (surgery, falls, illness) rather than smooth decline — reframing protein/training as banking physiologic headroom in one's 40s-60s rather than managing gradual loss later.
Body recomposition (simultaneous fat loss + muscle gain during a caloric deficit) requires especially high protein (2.2-3 g/kg) to prevent catabolism — see Body Recomposition (Recomp) Without a Caloric Deficit.
For muscle building/preservation, target 1.6-2.4 g/kg/day (~0.8-1 g/lb) — well above the RDA's 0.8 g/kg/day, which is only a malnutrition floor. Needs rise further after 60 due to anabolic resistance. See Leucine for the specific amino acid that triggers muscle protein synthesis (MPS), and Strength, Grip Strength & VO2 Max as Mortality Predictors for why preserving muscle mass matters for longevity.
Total daily amount and distribution across meals matters more than precise post-workout timing — the "anabolic window" (once thought to be a critical ~4-6 hour post-workout period) is now considered less critical than spreading protein across roughly four meals of ~40-50g each (radiolabeled studies used ~30-40g/meal). Casein (slow release) suits a long gap without food (e.g., overnight); whey (fast release) suits faster delivery.
At sufficiently large caloric deficits, no amount of protein or training fully prevents muscle loss — even ~200g protein/day at ~800 kcal/day can't prevent it, since the deficit forces gluconeogenic protein use. Moderate (30-40%) deficits combined with high protein and resistance training can preserve most lean mass — see Body Recomposition (Recomp) Without a Caloric Deficit.
Overshooting protein is a milder error than undershooting it, but it isn't free. Jeff Nippard's 2010 contest-prep meal plan, tallied retroactively, worked out to 265g of protein/day — called 'overkill to say the least.' The cost isn't protein toxicity; it's opportunity cost within a fixed calorie budget: grams spent on protein far past what's needed for muscle retention are grams not available for adequate dietary fat or for carbs to fuel training (see Meal Frequency for Fat Loss & Muscle Growth on pre-workout carb needs). Redundant protein at other points in the day (e.g., a post-workout shake stacked on top of a protein-adequate pre-workout meal) is the same category of mistake — not harmful, but a sign the diet was built on food rules rather than a calculated macro target. See Flexible Dieting vs. Rigid Meal Plans for why macro tracking catches this kind of imbalance that rigid meal plans don't.