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Your protein, spread across the day
Protein works per sitting, not per day. Hitting 120 g at dinner is not the same as spreading 120 g across four meals, and only one of those builds anything.
Short answer
Most active adults need 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which is around 110 to 150 g a day for a 70 kg person. The RDA of 0.8 g/kg is the amount that prevents deficiency, not the amount that preserves muscle while you are losing weight or past sixty.
Step 1 · Your details
Split across your meals below. The daily total matters less than whether each sitting clears the threshold that triggers muscle repair.
Your protein, meal by meal
Roughly 0.4 g per kilogram in one sitting is what maximizes the muscle-building response. Below it you under-shoot; far above it, the extra is mostly just calories.
Each step is one sitting, and the flag is the last meal of the day. Breakfast is where nearly everyone under-shoots: a typical cereal-and-toast morning delivers under 10 g, which means the body spends the first half of the day with nothing to repair itself from.
Get 31 g into each meal and the daily total takes care of itself.
Skipping protein until dinner, every day?
We will email you a free 7 day plan built on Mangi's science-backed formulas, not a generic template.
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What this page cannot do
You now know your per meal number. The app is what makes you hit it four times a day.
Protein is the macro people most often believe they are hitting and most often are not, because it is spread across four meals and almost nobody weighs their chicken. Scanning each plate turns a daily guess into a running total you can trust.
- Instant protein from a photo, per meal, so you find out at lunch instead of at midnight
- Watch the per meal split this page gave you fill in through the day
- Keep protein steady while calories drop, which is what decides whether you lose fat or muscle
- Mangi celebrates the days you land it, and quietly notices the days you do not
What to do with this
Fix breakfast first
Eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or last night's leftovers. Moving breakfast from 8 g to 30 g is usually the single biggest change available, and it costs nothing extra later in the day.
Build meals protein-first
Decide the protein, then build the plate around it. Done the other way round, protein becomes the garnish and you finish the day 40 g short.
Protect it hardest in a deficit
When calories drop, protein is what decides whether the weight you lose comes off as fat or as muscle. Cut carbs or fat if you have to cut something.
How this is worked out
Grams per kilogram, sized to the goal
daily protein (g) = body weight (kg) × factor · per meal = daily ÷ number of meals
The factor comes from the ISSN position stand on protein and exercise, which puts active adults at 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg and raises that during a calorie deficit, where protein is the thing standing between you and muscle loss.
This tool uses 1.2 g/kg to maintain, 1.8 for fat loss, 2.0 to build muscle, 2.2 for hard daily training, and 1.5 for adults over sixty. The over-sixty figure is deliberately above the RDA: 0.8 g/kg prevents deficiency but does not prevent sarcopenia, and older adults need more protein per meal to trigger the same repair response.
The per-meal split matters because muscle protein synthesis responds to a dose, not to a daily average. Roughly 0.4 g/kg in one sitting saturates the response, which is why four moderate meals beat one enormous dinner.
The app uses this same split. Mango Bites sets your protein goal from your body weight and your selected fitness goal, then tracks it per meal rather than only per day, which is the distinction that decides whether protein does anything for your muscle. If you pick the high protein macro plan during onboarding, the numbers on this page are the numbers you will see on your dashboard.
Protein in foods people actually eat
Per typical serving, cooked where relevant.
| Food | Serving | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | 150 g | 46 g |
| Greek yogurt, 0% | 200 g | 20 g |
| Salmon fillet | 150 g | 31 g |
| Lean ground beef, 5% | 150 g | 39 g |
| Cottage cheese | 200 g | 24 g |
| Eggs | 2 large | 13 g |
| Tofu, firm | 150 g | 17 g |
| Lentils, cooked | 1 cup / 200 g | 18 g |
| Whey protein | 1 scoop / 30 g | 24 g |
| Canned tuna, drained | 100 g | 25 g |
| Milk | 250 ml | 8 g |
| Chickpeas, cooked | 1 cup / 165 g | 15 g |
| Rolled oats, dry | 1/2 cup / 40 g | 5 g |
| Peanut butter | 2 tbsp / 32 g | 7 g |
Questions people ask
How much protein do I need per day?
How much protein do I need per day?
Between 1.2 and 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight, depending on what you are asking your body to do. Maintaining takes the low end; losing fat while keeping muscle, or training hard, takes the high end. Body weight in kilograms times your factor gives you the daily number.
Is the RDA of 0.8 g/kg enough?
Is the RDA of 0.8 g/kg enough?
It is enough to avoid a deficiency, which is what it was designed for. It is not enough to preserve muscle during weight loss, to build muscle with training, or to offset the muscle loss that comes with age. Those are different questions and they have higher answers.
Can you eat too much protein?
Can you eat too much protein?
For people with healthy kidneys, intakes up to around 2.5 g/kg have not been shown to cause harm in controlled studies. The practical ceiling is not safety but opportunity cost: past roughly 2.2 g/kg you are displacing carbohydrate and fat you could use, and gaining almost nothing.
Does protein timing actually matter?
Does protein timing actually matter?
The old thirty-minute anabolic window was oversold. What does hold up is per-meal distribution: three or four servings that each clear about 0.4 g/kg beat the same total crammed into one sitting, because muscle protein synthesis responds to each dose rather than to a daily average.
Do I need protein powder?
Do I need protein powder?
No, but it is a convenient way to close a gap. If the daily target is 140 g and food reliably gets you to 110, a shake is a simpler answer than forcing down another chicken breast. It is a tool, not a requirement.
Is plant protein as good as animal protein?
Is plant protein as good as animal protein?
Per gram, most plant sources are slightly less effective. Lower leucine content and lower digestibility. The workaround is straightforward: eat somewhat more of it, and vary the sources across the day. Soy and pea protein are the closest plant equivalents to dairy and meat.
Sources
This is an estimate, not medical advice. Formulas like these describe averages, and you are a person rather than an average. Medication, thyroid conditions, pregnancy, breastfeeding and a history of disordered eating all move these numbers. Talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian before making a big change.
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