How Much Protein Can Your Body Absorb? Here's How Much To Eat In One Sitting

Whether muscle growth is your goal or you simply want to do a single pushup without crying, what you put on your plate is just as important as how much weight you're lifting at the gym. Besides filling up on lean proteins or sipping a protein shake after your workout, how you distribute your protein intake throughout the day can also affect how quickly you'll see results.

And while protein is an essential macronutrient for lean muscle mass and strength, it's also necessary for the health of your skin, cartilage, and bones, while supporting metabolic and immune health, reducing cravings, and optimizing brain function1. Protein is for everyone, so how can we get the most out of our meals?

Before diving into the science, it's important to distinguish between protein absorption and protein utilization.

When you eat a big slab of steak, for example, it travels through your digestive tract. The protein that it contains is broken down into amino acids, which are absorbed into the bloodstream2 and used by the tissues throughout the body.

Nelson compares the process of muscle hypertrophy (aka muscle building) to an assembly line: A calorie surplus is needed to provide energy for the line, leucine (a type of branched-chain amino acid) is needed to turn it on via a gene called mTOR, and essential amino acids are used as the building materials for the new muscle tissue.

"Levels of leucine above 2.5 grams per meal will turn on [mTOR]," protein and amino acid requirements researcher Don Layman, Ph.D., explains on the mindbodygreen podcast. "If you don't meet that threshold, that protein consumption is a sense going to waste."

This means that the composition of your meal matters just as much as how many grams of protein you're getting in your daily diet. Generally, getting 25 to 30 grams of complete protein per meal helps you hit that 2.5 grams of leucine mark, with 100 grams of daily protein being a good minimum requirement for everyone to strive for.

Mary Sabat, M.S., RDN, L.D., points out that your overall protein needs can be influenced by a wide range of factors3, including your age, your physical activity level, the intensity and duration of your workouts, and your overall health status. If you're extremely active, over the age of 65, pregnant, or breastfeeding, you'll likely benefit from eating over 100 grams per day.

According to Nelson, you need amino acid levels to drop before you can restart the process of MPS. "If I want to turn a light switch on and off multiple times per day, I obviously need to turn it off before I can turn it back on again," he says, explaining that it's best to split your protein intake into several meals per day.

There is some research to show that this becomes even more important the older you are since when mTOR is constantly activated, it may accelerate aging4.

Nelson emphasizes the importance of eating a variety of protein-rich foods during each meal to cover all your bases and round out your diet. Though protein-rich foods are your best bet for ramping up your intake, protein powder can also help fill in the gaps if you're in a pinch.

Besides how much protein you're eating each day, how you distribute your intake might also matter.

In fact, some research suggests that it may be best to squeeze more protein into your morning meal. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition, eating a high-protein breakfast5 and consuming less protein during dinner was more effective for muscle growth. Another animal study had similar findings, concluding that eating protein at breakfast might be better for maintaining muscle mass6.

"Plant and animal proteins differ in their amino acid profile, and this affects their absorption rate and efficiency in building muscle," says Sabat.

She explains that animal proteins contain all of the essential amino acids needed to build and repair muscle tissues, whereas plant-based proteins may be lower in one or more of these amino acids7. Muscle-supporting leucine, for example, is more abundant in animal proteins like meat, eggs, and milk.

In addition to their amino acid profile, plant-based proteins also aren't digested or absorbed as efficiently. In fact, it's estimated that plant-based proteins have absorption rates8 ranging from 75 to 80% compared to around 90 to 95% for animal-based proteins like meat, fish, and poultry.