It’s not just how much, it’s when, and most people get only half of what they need.
PROTEIN
It’s not just how much.
You probably eat more protein than you think. The trouble is when it lands. For most of us the day looks the same: a token amount at breakfast, a bit more at lunch, then a huge plate at dinner that no single sitting can fully put to work.
And during fat loss there’s a twist most people miss. Protein’s main job isn’t building new muscle. It’s defending the muscle you already have while the fat comes off.
“In a deficit, protein is less about building and more about defending, it’s the difference between losing fat and losing muscle.”
Your body builds muscle meal by meal
Your body can only put so much protein to work for muscle in one sitting, roughly 25–35g per meal for most people. Eating 80g at dinner doesn’t triple the muscle signal, it just extends the queue, and the surplus gets burned for fuel or used elsewhere.
Typical day
13g16g56g
BLD
Spread evenly
28g27g30g
BLD
≈30g usable per meal · striped = wasted
Same ~85g of protein. Only one of them builds muscle all day.
Protein does three jobs the others can’t
Your body burns more energy just digesting it, it keeps you full far longer than carbs or fat, and it tells your body to hold onto muscle. Carbs and fat don’t do any of this the same way.
Thermic effect
You burn ~25% of its calories just digesting it
Satiety
Keeps you full far longer
Muscle-sparing
Signals your body to keep muscle
Why Kaiora’s target is higher than the RDA
The standard guideline (the RDA) is set just high enough to avoid a deficiency, not to keep you strong while you’re losing fat. Studies pooling thousands of people land far higher: around 2.0–2.4g per kg of bodyweight when you’re training and losing fat. That’s why Kaiora’s number looks bigger than you’re used to.
Protein target · g per kg bodyweight
Basic RDA
0.8 g/kg
Kaiora (fat loss)
2.0–2.4
What hitting it actually looks like
For an 80kg person that’s roughly 160–190g a day. In practice: eggs and yoghurt at breakfast, a chicken breast at lunch, salmon or beef at dinner, with a protein-rich snack if you’re still short. The biggest fix for most people is breakfast, where we routinely fall short.
TRY THIS TODAY
Add a real protein source to breakfast. Spread it across the day, don’t stack it all at dinner.
IN KAIORA
Kaiora shows protein per meal, not just per day, and nudges you to move it where it actually counts.
The science
Morton et al. (2018), British Journal of Sports Medicine. A meta-analysis of 49 studies: protein intakes well above the RDA best protect and build muscle, especially spread across the day.
Mikki Williden, PhD · Registered Nutritionist
Takeaways
Spread it, don’t stack it. Aim for 25–35g of protein at each meal instead of saving most of it for dinner.
Breakfast is where most people lose. A protein-light morning wastes a whole meal’s muscle signal, so add eggs, yoghurt or similar.
Aim higher than the RDA in a deficit. Around 2.0–2.4g per kg of bodyweight protects muscle while you lose fat.
Kaiora tracks protein per meal. It shows where your protein actually lands across the day, not just the daily total.
Tonight’s dinner is rebuilding you.
This is the science behind what Kaiora calculated for you today.
