You have worked out roughly how much protein you need in a day. A second question comes up quickly: does it matter when you eat it? Some people squeeze most of it into dinner. Others sip shakes every two hours. For a first-year lifter the honest answer is that the daily total does most of the work, and spreading it out is a small bonus that is easy to get.
A large review of 49 trials (Morton and colleagues, 2018) found that extra protein helped lifters gain muscle up to about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Beyond that the average benefit levelled off, although the range of results stretched to 2.2 g/kg, so some people may gain a little from more. For a 75 kg person, 1.6 g/kg is 120 g a day.
Timing is a smaller lever. Your muscles respond to a protein-rich meal by building protein for a few hours afterwards. Reviews of this research suggest that a meal of roughly 0.25 to 0.4 g/kg (about 20 to 30 g for most adults) is enough to give that response a good push. One review (Schoenfeld and Aragon, 2018) concluded that around 0.4 g/kg across at least four meals is a sensible way to reach the daily target. Newer work suggests bigger meals are not wasted, they just may be used more slowly. So treat these numbers as a handy rule of thumb, not a limit your body enforces.
Enter your weight, then drag each meal to roughly what you eat now. The chart shows the useful per-meal range as a shaded band and the daily total against a 1.6 g/kg target.
If your day looks like the dinner-heavy button above, the fix is not a protein shake every two hours. It is a modest protein anchor at each meal: eggs or Greek yoghurt at breakfast, beans, fish, tofu or chicken at lunch and dinner, and a snack such as cottage cheese or milk when you are hungry. Three to five protein-containing meals is plenty.
A few cases are worth a note. Plant-based eaters may want meals at the higher end of the range, since many plant proteins have less leucine, an amino acid that helps switch on muscle building. A meal after training is a good place for a solid serving, but there is no magic 30-minute window; protein eaten within a few hours either side of a session works fine. And protein before bed is helpful for some people but not required.
If you have a kidney condition, are pregnant, or have been given dietary advice by a doctor or dietitian, check your protein target with them before changing it. This guide is general information, not medical advice.
Reach your daily total first, around 1.6 g/kg for most lifters. Then aim for roughly 20 to 40 g at three to five meals, adjusting up or down for your size. Do not stress about the clock: consistency over weeks matters far more than the exact minute of any one meal.