Protein math for people who cook twice a week

01How much protein do you actually need?

For people who train 3–5 days a week, benefits plateau around 1.6 g/kg per day — about 0.7 g per pound. More isn't harmful for healthy adults; it's just mostly unnecessary. Under 0.5 g per pound while training is where progress quietly stalls.

Per meal, the useful ceiling is around 0.4 g/kg — call it 30–45 g for most people. That's why the two-anchor system below works: two big meals get you two-thirds of the way there [2].

02The two-cook system

Cook twice — Sunday and Wednesday, 40 minutes each. Each cook produces four anchor meals at 40 g protein. That's eight anchors across the week; everything else is assembly, not cooking.

03What 40 grams looks like

04What if you miss a day?

Nothing meaningful happens. Protein needs behave like a weekly average, not a daily pass/fail — one 80 g day in a 125 g week is a rounding error. Plan for the worst week, not the best one.