Anybody with the slightest knowledge of gym and fitness realizes how essential protein is for muscle gain. We have written numerous articles on why you need to increase your diet’s protein constituent. But do you know how much protein is required per day?

While consuming too little protein can affect your gains, doing the opposite can cause a plethora of other problems, like:

• Dehydration
• Constipation
• Heart Disease
• Diarrhea, etc.

So before chugging down the protein shakes and mass gainers, let’s find out what works best for your body.

Amount of Protein Intake Per day Depends upon you

In the fitness world, most of the queries don’t have a definite answer. Everything works differently for different individuals, so it’s quintessential to know about you first.

We have categorized three major groups depending upon the regularity of their workout:

• People who don’t exercise at all.
• Occasional gym-goers.
• Regular gym-goers.

Your optimal protein intake per day varies, depending upon which group you’re in.

People who don’t exercise at all

For all the busybodies out there, who cannot spare an hour for exercise and have a busy lifestyle, protein is essential for you as well.

Although your protein intake should be lesser than regular, you still require protein equivalent to half of your body weight.

For example, if your body weight is 80kg you’ll require 40g of protein daily. 

Occasional gym-goers

The next category consists of the occasional gym-goers, i.e. people who hit the gym twice or thrice a week. 

Even though you require less protein intake than the regular buffs, your protein intake should be slightly lesser than your body weight. 70-80% of your body weight should be your optimal protein intake.

For example, for an 80kg person who occasionally hits the gym, 55-60g of protein per day is enough.

Regular gym-goers

Finally, coming down to the regulars who consider skipping gym a sin, and shows up 5-6 times a week. 

Needless to say, this category needs the maximum amount of protein to keep up with their training. If you fall under this category, you need protein equivalent to your body weight each and every day.

In this case, an 80kg person requires 80g of protein for optimal muscle gain.

Bonus Category: Advanced

You can exceed your protein intake levels above your body weight only when you’re working out at the advanced levels. The pros in the game, and the really experienced who makes every sweat count, require greater protein to keep up with their regime.

In this category, you can increase your protein intake gradually to a point slightly higher than your body weight.

For example, an 80kg person in the advanced levels can consume up to 80-90g of protein per day.

If you want to be a professional bodybuilder you can check out this excellent article on that topic.

Conclusion

Hope this article helps you determine how much protein is required per day for optimal gains.

In the end, we’d like to remind you to alter your diet in accordance with your exercise. We’ve seen many of our clients in India fail to perk up the protein in their diet. A huge percentage of our population is vegetarian and doesn’t eat eggs and meat. 

If you’re facing the same issue, we’d recommend perusing this list of natural high protein foods list. They are cheap and available in almost every local grocery store.