How Much Protein is Optimal for Muscle Growth?

A common misconception in the fitness and dieting community is that the more protein you eat the more muscle you'll pack on. While true to a certain extent, it falls again into the false notion of more is better.

Loading up on protein each and every meal wont make any difference in muscle growth if you are going over the amount your body truly needs to optimally build muscle. That optimal protein target is 0.7-1.0 grams/lb when in a caloric surplus and 0.8-1.2 grams/lb when in a calorie deficit. If someone is at a high risk of muscle loss, like in cases of very low body fat percentage, eating at the higher end of those spectrums is recommended. When eating at the lower end of the spectrum, you wont cease to build muscle, it will just take a slower amount of time comparatively.

A systematic review (Morton et al. 2017) analyzing the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults found that people build more and more muscle until they hit the intake of 0.72 grams/lb, which at that point, the gains are no longer exponential and settle at a consistent baseline.

Another thing to consider is how much protein your body can handle at once. Within a 1-2 hour period, most research (Schoenfeld et. al 2018) shows that your body can optimally use on average 22.5 grams of protein. Anything beyond that is used as energy storage or potentially as fat if you are in a surplus. This idea is highly controversial in the body building world. More protein can be consumed in one meal when the presence of other macronutrients such as carbohydrates and fats are present, as they slow down the absorption of the protein in the body, leading to a research based cap of 34 grams of protein in a 1-2 hour window.