Eating for training
Protein: How Much Do You Actually Need?
Past a point, more isn't doing anything for you
General information about training and eating, not personal advice. It is not medical or dietary advice and it cannot account for your circumstances. If you are pregnant, have a medical condition, take medication, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a GP or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat or train.
Most of the benefit is there by about 1.6g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight a day. The commonly quoted 1.6–2.2g range is not a target to hit the top of — the upper end is headroom for individual variation, for eating in a deficit, and for people who simply prefer eating that way. Above roughly 2.2g most of the research has struggled to show anything further, though it is not a settled question and the studies are smaller than you would like.
The next paragraph has example protein numbers.
In practice: if you weigh 84kg — about 13 stone 3 — that is roughly 134g a day at 1.6g/kg, and about 185g at the top of the range. A chicken breast is around 35g of protein, a large egg about 7g, a 200g pot of strained or 0% Greek yoghurt about 20g — a standard Greek-STYLE pot is nearer half that — and a scoop of whey around 25g. Two kilograms of bodyweight either way will not move those numbers meaningfully.
Getting enough across the day matters more than the exact timing, but spreading intake across 3–5 meals with 25–40g of protein each tends to be easier to hit consistently than trying to cram it into one or two sittings.
Whole food sources — meat, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes — come with other nutrients a shake doesn't. Treat protein powder as the thing that fills the gap on a busy day, not the foundation of your intake.
If food is becoming something to control rather than something to eat, Beat runs free helplines and online support at beateatingdisorders.org.uk, and a GP is a reasonable first conversation.