Your Protein Target
From about 50, muscle responds less to protein than it used to — so you need more of it, not less, just to hold on to what you have. This works out your daily target and lets you check a day against it.
Two questions, then a list you can tap as you eat.
Two questions
Strength work raises how much protein you can use, so it raises the target.
Your daily protein target
25g is roughly a palm-sized piece of fish, chicken or tofu.
What have you eaten today?
Tap an item each time you eat it. The total updates as you go.
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Egg07g
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Tau kwa, 1 piece012g
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Soft tofu, 1 block08g
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Greek yoghurt, small tub015g
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Milk, 1 glass08g
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Unsweetened soya milk, 1 glass07g
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Peanuts, small handful07g
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Wholemeal bread, 2 slices08g
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Fish, palm-sized023g
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Chicken breast, palm-sized030g
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Dhal, 1 bowl09g
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Fish soup025g
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Chicken rice β steamed chicken021g
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Chicken rice β roasted chicken029g
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Yong tau foo β 6 items with egg028g
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Sliced fish bee hoon soup028g
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Economy rice β meat, egg, tofu, veg030g
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Thunder tea rice (lei cha)020g
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Thosai + dhal + egg020g
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Wanton noodle soup022g
Ate something not on the list?
Add it yourself. If you are not sure how much protein it has, a palm-sized piece of fish, chicken or tofu is about 25g, and a glass of milk is about 8g.
If you have kidney disease, do not use this target — a higher protein intake can be harmful, and your doctor should set your figure instead.
π Where this comes from
Targets follow PROT-AGE (Bauer et al., J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2013) and ESPEN (Deutz et al., Clin Nutr. 2014), which put healthy older adults at 1.0–1.2 g per kg of body weight a day, and at least 1.2 g with regular resistance exercise — above the 0.8 g general-adult RDA.
These are estimates for healthy adults, not a prescription. Portions vary a lot between stalls and kitchens, so treat the totals as a guide rather than a measurement.