Are you eating enough protein? For most Americans, the answer is, simply, yes. But if you’d like to dig a bit deeper, we’ll explain the factors that affect your protein needs, how to dial in the range that’s right for you, and an overview of foods that deliver protein.
Factors that increase protein needs
Protein is made up of amino acids. Your body uses these to build muscles, bones, cells, enzymes and hormones.
Exactly how much protein you need each day depends on your age, sex, weight and a few other factors, including:
- Pregnancy and lactation
- Physical activity level
- Critical illness
- Recovering from surgery
- Older age
Because your body uses protein to build and repair, you need even more of it during these times.
Many adults 71+ aren’t consuming enough protein. Protein is particularly important for older adults to maintain muscle mass.
How much protein do you need?
There are three ways to calculate protein needs.
The first is the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of .8 g per kilogram of body weight (.36 g per pound). For someone who is 150 pounds, that would be 54 grams per day. The recommendation is higher for different populations:
- Pregnancy: 1.1 g/kg (during 2nd and 3rd trimesters)
- Older adults: 1-1.2 g/kg
- Surgery: (pre-/post-op 1.6-3g/kg, or 20-40g per meal)
Another way of calculating your protein needs is to look at it as a percentage of your overall calories. The USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend that protein makes up 10-35% of your calories. That’s a big range. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that’s 50-175 grams of protein.
A third way, also used in the USDA Dietary Guidelines, is to look at “protein equivalents” needed per day. Generally, adults need 5-7 protein “ounce-equivalents” per day. (A protein ounce-equivalent = 7 grams of protein.) It should be noted that this only applies to non-dairy sources of protein. There’s an additional recommendation of 3 servings of dairy (1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1.5 oz hard cheese).
How to get the protein you need
Several categories of food deliver protein, including nuts, beans and legumes, seafood, dairy, meat, poultry and eggs. But even foods you might not think of as protein foods have some protein, such as grains and vegetables.
| Category | Food | Portion size | Grams of protein |
| Soy-based | Tofu | ½ cup (4 oz) | 10 |
| Edamame, shelled | 1 cup | 17 | |
| Soy milk | 1 cup | 8 | |
| Beans & legumes | Cooked beans (chickpeas, black, kidney, cannellini) & lentils | ½ cup | 8 |
| Hummus | ⅓ cup | 7 | |
| Falafel | 2 patties | 5 | |
| Nuts and seeds | Nuts, seeds | ¼ cup | 7 |
| Peanut butter (and other nut/seed butters) | 2 Tbsp | 8 | |
| Meat, fish, eggs | Beef, chicken, turkey, pork, lamb | 3 oz | 21 |
| Fish, tuna fish | 3 oz | 21 | |
| Seafood (crab, lobster, mussels, oysters) | 3 oz | 18 | |
| Eggs | 1 egg | 6 | |
| Vegetables | Broccoli, cooked | 1 cup | 4 |
| Peas | 1 cup | 8 | |
| Baked potato | 1 medium | 6 | |
| Corn | 1 ear | 3 | |
| Dairy | Plain nonfat Greek yogurt | 2/3 cup | 17 |
| Low-fat cottage cheese | ½ cup | 13 | |
| Milk (skim or whole) | 1 cup | 8 | |
| Hard cheese | 1.5 oz | 12 | |
| Grains | 100% whole wheat bread | 1 medium slice | 4 |
| Pasta, cooked | 1 cup | 8 | |
| Farro, cooked | 1 cup | 12 | |
| Rice, cooked | 1 cup | 4 | |
| Brown rice, cooked | 1 cup | 5 | |
| Quinoa, cooked | 1 cup | 7 |
As you can see from this chart, it’s not very hard to meet your daily protein needs. Be sure you’re getting a variety of nutritious foods. A Teladoc Health coach can help you incorporate protein into your day as well as meeting your other health goals.