Is protein 1 gram per pound or per kilogram of body weight?

This trips people up because the experts genuinely use two different units — and they don't land on the same number. "One gram per pound of body weight" is the simple American gym heuristic Huberman cites, and his guest Dr. Gabrielle Lyon sharpens it to ~1 gram per pound of ideal body weight. Attia and Patrick instead speak in grams per kilogram: 1.2-1.6 g/kg for general health, with Attia aiming near 2 g/kg and Patrick going up to 2 for body recomposition.

Here's the reconciliation. One gram per pound is roughly 2.2 g/kg — so the 1g/lb rule sits at the high end of, or slightly above, Attia's deliberately-high ~2 g/kg target. Neither is wrong; they're a simple rule (1g/lb) versus a more precise range (1.2-2 g/kg). If you weigh 70 kg (154 lb): the g/kg approach gives ~84-140g/day, while 1g/lb gives ~154g/day. Both are well above the 0.8 g/kg RDA, which all the experts treat as a deficiency floor, not an optimum.

Two things keep you from over- or under-shooting. First, calculate on ideal body weight, not current — Patrick and Lyon both specify this, so a heavier person doesn't inflate the target. Second, anchor to your goal: 1.2-1.6 g/kg is plenty for general health and aging, while pushing toward 1g/lb (≈2 g/kg) makes sense if you're actively building muscle and lifting. And the universal condition: these numbers assume resistance training — that's what makes the protein work.