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Nutrition · 5 min read · Apr 2026

How much protein do you actually need?

The short answer: more than the government minimum, less than the supplement industry implies. Here's how we land on a number.

Protein is the macro people argue about most, partly because two very different questions get blurred together: "how much do you need to survive?" and "how much helps you build and keep muscle?" The answers are far apart.

The floor vs. the target

The Recommended Dietary Allowance of 0.8 g/kg is a floor — the amount that prevents deficiency in most healthy adults. It was never meant to optimize body composition. For anyone training regularly, especially in a calorie deficit, the useful target sits well above it.

A large body of randomized trials and meta-analyses converges on roughly 1.6 g/kg of body weight per day as the point where additional protein stops adding much to muscle gain in most people. That's why Hitt Fitness anchors its default there and labels it ✓ Peer-reviewed

In a deficit, protein does double duty: it preserves lean mass while you lose fat and it's the most satiating macro, which makes the diet easier to stick to.

When to go higher

Distribution matters less than the total

You'll read that you must eat 30 g every three hours. The evidence for a hard per-meal cap is weak — total daily intake is what drives results. Spreading protein across 3–4 meals is reasonable and practical, but it's a convention, not a law, and we label it that way in the app.

The bottom line

Start at 1.6 g/kg. Nudge upward if you're dieting hard or older. Don't stress about timing to the minute. Hitt Fitness computes your number from your profile and shows you how today's intake stacks up in real time.

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