How much protein per day you really need (and how to get there without shakes)

It is the question we get asked most at the counter this past year: how much protein do I need a day? Right behind it comes the second one, which already has its answer built in: which tub should I take? The official European figure, the one used as a reference for the whole adult population, is lower than almost anyone expects, and the average intake in Spain already clears it comfortably.

That does not mean protein is irrelevant. It means the number that applies to you depends on your weight, your age and whether you lift, and that the road there runs through the pulses, the egg and the tinned fish before it runs through the powder. Here are the numbers, where they come from, and the cases where the tub does make sense.

In short

• The European reference for healthy adults is 0.83 g of protein per kilo of body weight per day (EFSA, 2012). For 70 kg that is about 58 g.
• The average person in Spain already eats 74.5 g a day (ANIBES study, 2,009 people). Most of the population does not have a quantity problem.
• If you do resistance training, the reference meta-analysis puts the plateau at 1.62 g/kg/day (49 studies, 1,863 participants). Above that, no extra muscle.
• From 65 onwards, the PROT-AGE consensus raises it to 1.0-1.2 g/kg/day and to 25-30 g per meal. Here there is a real problem, and it is one of distribution.
• The 30-minute anabolic window does not survive analysis: once you adjust for total daily protein, the timing effect disappears.
• In healthy kidneys, high-protein diets do not worsen glomerular filtration rate (28 trials, 1,358 adults).
• The EU allows only three claims about protein, and we quote them literally below.

What the 0.83 g per kilo figure actually measures

The European reference does not come from a gym study: it comes from nitrogen balance studies, which measure how much protein you have to eat in order not to lose net body mass. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published its opinion on dietary reference values for protein in 2012 and set two numbers: an average requirement of 0.66 g/kg/day and a population reference intake of 0.83 g/kg/day, which covers the needs of 97.5 % of adults.

It matters what that 0.83 is: it is the floor, not the target. It is calculated so that you do not lose, not so that you gain muscle mass or age with as much lean mass as possible. And EFSA adds a detail that is almost never quoted: the data are insufficient to set a tolerable upper intake level for protein, and intakes of up to twice that reference — around 1.66 g/kg — are regularly consumed in Europe on mixed diets and are considered safe.

For other situations EFSA gives concrete figures: between 0.83 and 1.31 g/kg/day in children and adolescents depending on age; in pregnancy, 1 g extra a day in the first trimester, 9 g in the second and 28 g in the third; in lactation, 19 g extra for the first six months and 13 g after that.

How much protein people in Spain already eat

The ANIBES scientific study, with 2,009 people aged 9 to 75, measured an average intake of 74.5 ± 22.4 g of protein a day: 80.3 g in men and 68.5 g in women. For a 70 kg person the European reference is about 58 g. The Spanish average is 28 % above it.

The interesting part of ANIBES is not the quantity, it is where it comes from: 33.1 % from meat and meat products, 17.4 % from cereals, 17.2 % from dairy and 10.6 % from fish. Vegetables and pulses together contribute only 7 %. That is the imbalance that does matter, and it is not fixed with a tub: it is fixed with pulses and vegetables.

How much you need: six situations and their numbers

1. Baseline: multiply your weight by 0.83

If you are a healthy adult, sedentary or moderately active, this is your reference. 60 kg → 50 g. 70 kg → 58 g. 85 kg → 71 g. Two eggs, a yoghurt, a plate of lentils and a handful of nuts and you are there. Our pantry and the chilled aisle cover that whole day without going anywhere near supplements.

2. If you lift: between 1.4 and 1.6 g/kg, and that is where it ends

The meta-analysis by Morton and colleagues, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2018, pooled 49 studies and 1,863 participants. Protein supplementation added to resistance training produced 0.30 kg of fat-free mass (95 % CI: 0.09 to 0.52) and 2.49 kg on one-repetition maximum (95 % CI: 0.64 to 4.33). Real effects, but small ones.

The figure that saves the most money is a different one: beyond a total intake of 1.62 g/kg/day there were no further gains in fat-free mass, with a 95 % confidence interval between 1.03 and 2.20 g/kg. In other words, the analysis itself accepts that the plateau may sit considerably lower. For 75 kg, 1.6 g/kg is 120 g a day: you get there with food and, at most, a scoop of pea protein or organic whey on the days that do not add up. If you also take creatine, it lives in the same protein and amino acids category.

3. From 65 onwards: 1.0-1.2 g/kg and 25-30 g per meal

This is the most relevant disagreement in the whole article, and it is worth stating: EFSA considers that older people's protein requirement is the same as an adult's, while the PROT-AGE expert group recommended in 2013 1.0-1.2 g/kg/day in healthy people over 65, and 1.2-1.5 g/kg in acute or chronic illness. It is not an arbitrary disagreement: EFSA sets population references from nitrogen balance, and PROT-AGE starts from the clinical goal of slowing sarcopenia.

PROT-AGE adds the most practical number in the document: the threshold for stimulating muscle protein synthesis sits at 25-30 g per meal, with about 2.5-2.8 g of leucine. And that is the real problem for many older people: they do not eat too little protein in total, they eat all of it at lunch and almost none at breakfast and dinner. Some fresh cheese with nuts in the morning and an egg or a tin of fish at night fix more than any tub. If bone loss is part of the picture, look at bones and joints as well.

4. If you eat fully plant-based: same amount, better spread

Plant proteins are not worse: they have different amino acid profiles and digest slightly less well. Cereals run short on lysine and pulses on methionine, so pulse plus cereal across the day settles the full profile. They do not need to be on the same plate: the body keeps a pool of amino acids that gives plenty of room within a single day.

In practice: pardina lentils, pedrosillano chickpeas and red lentils loose; chickpea tempeh, fresh seitan and tofu; pumpkin and hemp seeds. And if you still fall short, a complete vegan formula, hemp protein or pumpkin protein before anything else. Isolated L-lysine only makes sense on very monotonous cereal-based diets.

5. If you are losing weight: raise the protein, do not lower it

In a calorie deficit, part of what you lose is lean mass. Keeping protein at the top of the range and training with resistance is what best protects muscle. This applies to any weight loss, including the loss that comes with GLP-1 analogue drugs, where the sharp drop in appetite makes it very easy to fall short on protein and micronutrients. This is not advice to replace any treatment: it is the food side that goes with it, and it is worth discussing with whoever prescribed it.

6. Distribution matters more than the clock

Three or four servings of 25-35 g each work better than one huge meal and two token ones. But the exact minute is not what decides it: in the meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Aragon and Krieger (2013), with 23 hypertrophy studies and 525 subjects, the apparent effect of timing disappeared once total daily protein intake was controlled for. What predicts gains is the daily total, not the window.

Table 1. How much protein a day, by situation

Where to get it without buying a tub

The plant values in the table below come from Spanish food composition tables and are given raw, which is how you buy them. An 80 g portion of dry lentils is a normal plate once cooked.

Table 2. Protein per real portion

Added together, three of these lines make a full day for almost anyone in the first row of table 1.

What can legally be claimed about protein

In the European Union, and therefore in Spain, health claims on foods are fixed by Regulation (EU) 432/2012. For protein there are only three authorised, and this is their official wording in English:

• "Protein contributes to a growth in muscle mass."
• "Protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass."
• "Protein contributes to the maintenance of normal bones."

All three may be used only if the food is at least a "source of protein" under Regulation (EC) 1924/2006, that is, if protein provides at least 12 % of the energy value of the product. To declare "high protein" you need to reach 20 %. Anything else you read on a pack — recovery, performance, satiety, definition — is not authorised as a health claim.

This has a very useful practical consequence in the supermarket: a biscuit or a drink can be sold as "protein" while barely reaching 12 % of its energy, with the rest being sugar and fat. Look at the grams of protein per 100 g and divide; do not stop at the front-of-pack line.

Three myths worth dropping

The 30-minute anabolic window

It does not hold. In the meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Aragon and Krieger (2013) — 23 studies and 525 subjects for hypertrophy, 20 studies and 478 for strength — the small effect attributed to timing evaporated once total daily protein intake was controlled for. If you train and eat enough that day, getting home in twenty minutes or in two hours does not change the result.

Protein damages your kidneys

In healthy kidneys, not according to the available evidence. The meta-analysis by Devries and colleagues, published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2018, pooled 28 randomised trials and 1,358 healthy adults (mean age 49 ± 15) and compared diets of at least 1.5 g/kg/day, or 20 % of calories, or more than 100 g a day, against normal or low-protein diets. The change in glomerular filtration rate did not differ between groups (SMD 0.11; p = 0.16). Established kidney disease is a different matter: with a filtration rate below 30 ml/min/1.73 m², PROT-AGE recommends limiting protein, and that is decided with a nephrologist, not with an article.

"I need a shake to get there"

This is the one that works against our own sales, and it is the most important. With a Spanish average of 74.5 g a day, most people who walk in to buy a tub of protein already clear their reference comfortably. The tub is a convenience shortcut, not a requirement: it helps when you train seriously and the day does not add up, when you eat fully plant-based and are 20 g short, or when appetite is low and intake has to be concentrated. If you are in none of those three cases, the money goes further on pulses, eggs and tinned fish.

The shopping list

To build the grams with food: pulses — with pardina lentils, red lentils and chickpeas loose —, eggs, canned fish, cheeses, tofu, tempeh and fresh seitan from the chilled aisle, and precooked dishes for the days with no time.

To go alongside and complete the profile: muesli and bars, rice and grains, nuts, seeds, bakery, vegetables and frozen. If you would rather the vegetables arrived on their own every week, there are the organic baskets.

And if the supplement does apply to your case: proteins and amino acids, with pea, hemp, pumpkin, complete vegan formulas and organic whey. Around it: vitamins and minerals, bones and joints, collagens, superfoods, diet and nutrition and nervous system. Discounted items are in offers.

Do you need protein supplements?

For most of the people who ask us, no. The European reference is covered by eating, the Spanish average already exceeds it, and Morton's meta-analysis is clear that the supplement's effect on lean mass is 0.30 kg: real, measurable and modest. They do make sense in three specific cases — resistance training with an impossible schedule, a fully plant-based diet running a deficit, reduced appetite in older people or people under treatment — and in none of the three do they replace food: they complete it.

Put another way: we are a shop that sells tubs of protein and also loose lentils, and in most cases the lentils will serve you better. If you come in with the question, ask us what you eat on a normal day before deciding; that is the piece of information that is almost always missing.

Where to buy protein powder and loose pulses in Barcelona and Sant Cugat

We have three shops where you can read the label before paying, compare two tubs with the 12 % calculation in hand and take home the exact amount of pulses you are going to cook:

• Provença 242, 08008 Barcelona — Eixample, between Balmes and Enric Granados.
• Còrsega 78, 08029 Barcelona — Eixample, near Sants station.
• Antoni Bell 2, 08174 Sant Cugat del Vallès — Volpelleres neighbourhood, next to the station.

You can call us on +34 683 118 961 to check whether we have a specific product before coming over, or write to linverd@linverd.com. The difference from buying on a marketplace is not the price of the tub: it is that here you can weigh out 300 g of pardina lentils, compare the grams of protein per 100 g across three brands and have someone tell you that you probably need none of them. That does not ship in a box.

Frequently asked questions

How much protein do I need a day exactly?

Multiply your weight in kilos by 0.83 if you are a healthy adult with normal activity: that is EFSA's 2012 reference. If you do resistance training, go up to 1.4-1.6 g/kg. If you are over 65, to 1.0-1.2 g/kg. For 70 kg that is 58 g, 98-112 g and 70-84 g respectively.

Can I hit my protein without taking shakes?

Yes, and that is the norm. Average intake in Spain is 74.5 g a day with no supplements. Two eggs, a tin of oily fish, a plate of pulses and a dairy serving clear 60 g without effort. The shake is convenience, not necessity.

How much protein can I absorb at once?

The body absorbs practically everything you eat; what saturates is the muscle synthesis stimulus. PROT-AGE puts that threshold at 25-30 g of protein per meal, with about 2.5-2.8 g of leucine. More in a single sitting does no harm, it simply adds no further stimulus.

Does excess protein damage the kidneys?

In people with healthy kidneys the evidence says no: 28 trials covering 1,358 adults found no difference in glomerular filtration rate on diets of 1.5 g/kg or more. With established kidney disease and a filtration rate below 30 ml/min the recommendation is indeed to limit it, always under medical supervision.

Is plant protein worse than animal protein?

It is different, not worse. Cereals run short on lysine and pulses on methionine, so combining them across the day covers the full profile. They do not need to be on the same plate. Tempeh, seitan, tofu and loose pulses handle a plant-based diet without trouble.

What does "source of protein" mean on a label?

That protein provides at least 12 % of the product's energy value, under Regulation (EC) 1924/2006. "High protein" requires 20 %. It is the only legal way to advertise protein content, and it lets you rule out at a glance the products that use it as a selling line.

Where can I buy organic protein in Barcelona or Sant Cugat?

In our shops at Provença 242 (08008 Barcelona), Còrsega 78 (08029 Barcelona) and Antoni Bell 2 (08174 Sant Cugat del Vallès), or in the online shop. Phone +34 683 118 961. We stock whey, pea, hemp and pumpkin protein, and loose pulses, oats and seeds.

To keep reading

You can see the whole catalogue in proteins and amino acids and in the pantry, order online with delivery in Barcelona and Sant Cugat, or drop into any of the three shops and ask. If this article helped, three more on the blog go with it: the supplement manual covering creatine, vitamin D, collagen and magnesium, how much fibre per day and how to reach 25 g and which magnesium to take and what for. And if what is failing is sleep or digestion, melatonin for sleep, the gut reset and chronic stress. All of it on the health blog.

This article is general information and does not replace advice from a healthcare professional. If you have kidney, liver or metabolic disease, are pregnant or breastfeeding, take medication or are following a weight-loss treatment, consult your doctor or a registered dietitian before changing your protein intake.