How much protein should you eat on keto?

On keto, aim for 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of your goal bodyweight per day — for most adults that lands between 110 and 170 g. Use your goal weight, not your current weight: the protein is there to keep the muscle you want to keep, and a deficit is the exact condition where that muscle is at risk. If you only remember one number, use 2.0 g/kg of goal weight.

Why the range, and why goal bodyweight

The 1.6–2.2 g/kg range comes from studies on people training in a calorie deficit: below about 1.6 g/kg, lean mass loss climbs; above about 2.2 g/kg, the extra protein doesn't buy much more retention. It's a wide band because people differ, and because the top of it is most useful when you're leaner, training harder, or cutting harder.

Anchoring to goal weight instead of current weight does two things. It stops the target from ballooning for someone with a lot of fat to lose (fat tissue needs very little protein to maintain), and it stops the target from shrinking every time the scale moves, which is the opposite of what you want as you get leaner. Pick the weight you're heading toward, multiply, and leave it alone for the duration.

What you're actually protecting

A deficit is a signal to the body to shed tissue. Adequate protein plus resistance training is the counter-signal that says "shed fat, keep muscle." Muscle matters beyond looks: it's metabolically active, so losing it lowers your resting energy expenditure, which makes further loss slower and regain easier. Losing 15 lb where 5 of it is muscle is a worse outcome than losing 12 lb of fat, even though the scale prefers the first one. This is why every adjustment rule on this site cuts fat or snacks and never protein — see the stall guide.

Worked targets by goal weight

Don't obsess over hitting the number to the gram. Landing within about 10 g of the default on most days is the goal; a day at the floor isn't a failure.

What 130 g of protein looks like in food

Approximate protein per portion, cooked weights:

• 1 large egg: 6 g (4 eggs: 24 g)
• 4 oz chicken breast: about 35 g
• 4 oz ground beef (85/15): about 28 g
• 6 oz salmon: about 40 g
• 6 oz sirloin or pork chop: about 45–48 g
• 6 oz shrimp: about 40 g
• One 5 oz can of tuna: about 25 g
• One tin of sardines: about 22 g
• 1.5 oz beef jerky (no added sugar): about 14 g
• 1 oz cheddar: 7 g

A day built from four eggs at breakfast, 5 oz of chicken at lunch, 6 oz of salmon at dinner and a jerky snack lands around 125–130 g without any effort to hit a number. Protein is not hard to reach on this way of eating; it's easy to under-eat it by accident when appetite drops, which it often does in the first weeks. The dinner recipes all list protein per serving so you can see where a meal puts you.

Protein displaces fat, not carbs

Protein is 4 calories per gram. At a fixed calorie target, raising protein means lowering something else — and on keto, carbs are already near the floor, so what gives is fat. That's correct and intended. Fat on a low-carb diet is a lever you set to fill the remaining calories, not a target to maximize. "Fat to satiety" is a fine rule in the first weeks; once you have a calorie number, protein is the fixed line and fat is what you adjust. Protein also costs more to digest than fat or carbs (roughly 20–30% of its calories are spent processing it), which is a small, real advantage in a deficit.

Does protein kick you out of ketosis?

The claim that "too much protein turns into sugar" gets the mechanism backwards. The body makes glucose from protein (gluconeogenesis) on demand — to feed the brain, red blood cells and a few other tissues — not in proportion to how much protein you ate. A high-protein day will often lower a ketone reading somewhat. That is not the same as stopping fat loss. Ketone levels are a sign the machinery is running, not the goal itself; the goal is a deficit with your muscle intact. If deep ketosis for its own sake is your objective (therapeutic use, for example), the rules are different and belong with a clinician.

Can you eat too much?

Practically, yes — above about 2.2–2.4 g/kg of goal weight you're spending calories on protein that isn't protecting anything extra. Those calories still count. On the kidney question: in people with normal kidney function, high-protein intakes in the 1.6–2.4 g/kg range have not been shown to cause kidney damage in controlled studies. People with existing kidney disease are typically told to limit protein, and anyone in that situation should be following a clinician's numbers, not a website's.

Signs you're under-eating protein

• Persistent hunger even when calories are on target
• Strength dropping on lifts past the first month (see working out on keto)
• Weight coming off fast but looking softer, not leaner
• Skipping meals on a fasting schedule without making the remaining meals bigger — the most common way it happens (see fasting on keto)

In the app, set your goal weight once and the meal planner portions every meal to a protein target, so the number takes care of itself — start free.