Protein Intake Calculator
Daily protein needs by weight and goal, with Indian foods
| Food | Serving | Protein (g) | Per 100 g raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toor / arhar dal | 30 g raw | 6.5 | 21.7 |
| Moong dal | 30 g raw | 7.2 | 23.9 |
| Masoor dal | 30 g raw | 7.3 | 24.4 |
| Kala chana (whole) | 30 g dry | 5.6 | 18.8 |
| Rajma (red) | 30 g dry | 6.0 | 19.9 |
| Soya bean (white) | 30 g dry | 11.3 | 37.8 |
| Paneer | 100 g | 18.9 | 18.9 |
| Cow milk | 1 glass (200 ml) | 6.5 | 3.3 |
| Buffalo milk | 1 glass (200 ml) | 7.4 | 3.7 |
| Peanuts (groundnut) | 1 handful (30 g) | 7.1 | 23.6 |
| Roti (wheat atta) | 1 roti (30 g atta) | 3.2 | 10.6 |
| Rice (raw, milled) | 50 g raw | 4.0 | 7.9 |
| Egg (whole) | 1 egg (about 50 g) | 6.6 | 13.3 |
| Chicken breast (skinless) | 100 g raw | 21.8 | 21.8 |
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For general information only, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or a qualified professional about your health. Terms of use
How to Use
- Enter your Body weight in kg and pick your Activity level.
- Choose a Goal: stay healthy, build muscle or lose fat. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, pick that option instead; it uses the ICMR-NIN amounts.
- Choose 3 meals or 4 meals a day, and switch on Vegetarian if you don't eat egg, fish or meat.
- Your daily protein target and the grams per meal appear as you type, next to the ICMR-NIN RDA for your weight.
- Use the food table below to plan meals: it lists protein per serving for dal, paneer, milk, chana, soya, peanuts, roti, rice and more.
How much protein you need
Protein builds and repairs muscle, makes enzymes and hormones, and keeps you full. Many Indian meals are heavy on rice and roti and light on dal, milk and other protein foods. This protein intake calculator gives you a daily target based on your weight, activity and goal, splits it across your meals and shows how common Indian foods add up.
The ICMR-NIN recommendation
In its 2020 Nutrient Requirements for Indians, ICMR's National Institute of Nutrition set the protein RDA for healthy adults at 0.83 g per kg of body weight a day, for men and women and for all activity levels. That's 54 g for the 65 kg reference man and 45.7 g for the 55 kg reference woman. The earlier (2010) figure was 1 g per kg; ICMR-NIN still suggests 1 g per kg for people whose diet is mostly cereals with little pulse or milk.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding add to this: +9.5 g a day in the second trimester, +22 g in the third, +16.9 g while breastfeeding a baby under 6 months and +13.2 g from 6 to 12 months.
If you exercise or want to build muscle
The RDA covers basic needs. Sports-nutrition bodies suggest more for people who train: the joint position of the American College of Sports Medicine and dietitians' associations (2016) gives 1.2 to 2.0 g per kg for active people, and a 2018 analysis of trials found muscle gains level off around 1.6 g per kg, with 2.2 g per kg as a sensible upper end. The calculator uses these as general guidance:
| Situation | g per kg a day | For a 65 kg person |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy adult, sedentary (ICMR-NIN RDA) | 0.83 | 54 g |
| Active, exercising 3–5 days a week | 1.2–1.6 | 78–104 g |
| Hard training most days | 1.6–2.0 | 104–130 g |
| Building muscle with weight training | 1.6–2.2 | 104–143 g |
| Losing fat while exercising | 1.6–2.2 | 104–143 g |
When you're losing weight, a higher protein intake helps keep muscle while fat comes off. If you're carrying a lot of extra weight, base the numbers on a healthy target weight, not your current one.
Protein in Indian foods
The food table in the tool uses the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT, ICMR-NIN), per 100 g of raw food: toor dal 21.7 g, moong dal 23.9 g, masoor dal 24.4 g, kala chana 18.8 g, white soya bean 37.8 g, paneer 18.9 g, groundnuts 23.7 g, wheat atta 10.6 g, raw rice 7.9 g, cow milk 3.3 g, whole egg 13.3 g and skinless chicken breast 21.8 g. Soya chunks are made from defatted soya flour and carry more protein than whole soya beans; check the pack for the exact figure.
A worked example for a 65 kg vegetarian aiming for 78 g: two katoris of dal (30 g raw each, about 13 g), 100 g paneer (19 g), two glasses of milk (13 g), six rotis (19 g), a bowl of rice (4 g) and a handful of peanuts (7 g) add up to about 75 g, close enough. Spreading protein through the day works better than one big serving at dinner, which is why the tool shows grams per meal.
Good habits
- Pair cereals with pulses (dal-chawal, rajma-rice, idli-sambar). Together they give a better mix of amino acids than either alone.
- Add curd, milk or paneer to at least one meal a day.
- Drink enough water if you raise your protein intake.
- If you have kidney disease or diabetes with kidney involvement, follow your doctor's protein limit.