Appetite can fade for many reasons: age, illness, stress, or a treatment that dampens hunger. That last cause has become unusually common in Sweden, where this site is based. In 2025, 261 000 people collected semaglutide from Swedish pharmacies, which is 2.5 percent of the population, against 0.5 percent the year before. Counting tirzepatide as well, around 370 000 Swedes now use a GLP-1 medicine.
But the question is wider than that. The same problem meets anyone who has grown older and lost their appetite, anyone recovering from surgery, and anyone deliberately eating less to lose weight. This guide covers how much protein is actually recommended, what the studies show about muscle mass during weight loss, and how to make it work when portions are small.
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Why muscle comes into focus when you eat less
If you take in less energy than you use, the body covers the difference from both fat tissue and other tissue. Muscle is not only about appearance: it carries you up the stairs, holds your balance and works as the body's largest store of amino acids. Lose too much of it and you feel it in your energy long before you see it in the mirror.
The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations from 2023, which underpin the Swedish Food Agency's advice, are clear on exactly this point. They state that the proportion of protein should be increased when energy intake falls, specifically at an intake below 8 megajoules per day. In other words: the less you eat, the larger the share of what you eat needs to be protein.
How much protein is actually recommended
The recommended intake of protein for adults is 0.83 grams per kilo of body weight per day. The figure is the same for women and men, and it stays the same for people over 70. Expressed as a share of energy, protein should make up 10 to 20 percent of total energy intake.
For meal planning, 15 percent of energy is given as a suitable target for adults. For older adults the target is instead 18 percent, which corresponds to roughly 1.2 grams of protein per kilo of body weight per day. The stated purpose of the higher level is to compensate for a reduced energy intake and counteract the gradual loss of muscle mass that comes with age.
Counted in grams it looks like this:
| Body weight | Recommended intake, 0.83 g per kilo | At 1.2 g per kilo |
|---|---|---|
| 60 kg | about 50 g | about 72 g |
| 70 kg | about 58 g | about 84 g |
| 80 kg | about 66 g | about 96 g |
| 90 kg | about 75 g | about 108 g |
These are reference values for a population, not a prescription for you personally. If you are eating considerably less than usual, or you have kidney disease, the level should be checked with a doctor or dietitian.
Muscle and weight loss on GLP-1: what the studies show
In a household survey, 7.5 percent of Swedish households reported that someone in the household uses a GLP-1 medicine, which places Sweden third in Europe after Italy and Denmark. The average across the EU and the United Kingdom sits around 2 percent.
With that spread, worry about muscle has become one of the most common questions. The research picture is more nuanced than the headlines.
In a substudy of STEP 1, where body composition was measured with DEXA, total fat mass fell by 19.3 percent and visceral fat by 27.4 percent. Lean mass fell by 9.7 percent. At the same time, lean mass as a share of body weight rose by 3.0 percentage points, meaning body composition improved overall.
The SEMALEAN study followed participants for longer. Fat mass fell by 14.3 percent at seven months and 18.9 percent at twelve. Lean mass fell by 3.0 kilos at seven months and stabilised after that. Handgrip strength, a common measure of muscle function, went the other way and increased: by 3.7 kilos at seven months and 4.1 kilos at twelve. The share of participants with sarcopenic obesity dropped from 49 to 33 percent.
Two things are worth noting. Lean mass is not the same as muscle: the term also covers water, organs and connective tissue, and some of the decrease is expected as the body gets smaller. And muscle function did not deteriorate in these studies. That does not mean protein is unimportant, quite the opposite. Protein and resistance training are exactly the factors that decide which side of this picture you land on.
Never change your dose on your own, and raise the diet question with whoever prescribed your treatment.
The problem: appetite does not stretch to the food
Recommendations are one thing, the plate is another. When appetite fails, portions shrink, fullness arrives quickly and many people struggle with rich, heavy food, often exactly the food that otherwise delivers the most protein.
During 2026 the Swedish Food Agency published updated dietary advice for people over 65 with reduced appetite. The advice is written for that group, but the principles are the same for anyone eating small portions. The core is that many small nutrient and energy dense meals work better than a few large ones, and that protein rich foods should feature at every one of them.
One concrete point from that advice is worth lifting out: food should be spread across the day, preferably three main meals and several small ones, and the gap between the last meal in the evening and the first in the morning should not exceed eleven hours.
Protein sources that work when portions are small
The Swedish advice names protein from a range of sources: fish, poultry, meat, eggs, dairy, pulses and nuts. For those with reduced appetite it highlights protein rich dairy such as cheese, quark and cottage cheese in particular. On eggs it notes that the protein is more bioavailable when the egg is cooked.
A practical point that is rarely said out loud: when the portion is small, it is not the food itself that decides, but how much protein fits into the amount you can actually manage to eat. So get into the habit of reading the nutrition label and looking at grams of protein per serving, not per hundred grams. That is the number that decides whether you reach your daily target.
Liquid protein has a role of its own here. Something you can drink needs no chewing, takes up little room and can be taken slowly, which often works when solid food feels overwhelming. For anyone who does not tolerate milk protein there are plant based alternatives, for example from pea, hemp and seeds.
Fibre, the other half of the problem
Eat less food and you usually take in less fibre, and a sluggish gut is a common result. The recommendation for adults is at least 3 grams of fibre per megajoule, which at the reference energy intake corresponds to at least 25 grams per day for women and 35 grams per day for men.
Increase the amount slowly and drink enough, otherwise the stomach can feel heavier rather than lighter. The Swedish Food Agency gives about 1.5 litres of fluid per day for women and about 2 litres for men, on top of the water in food, which corresponds to roughly 30 millilitres per kilo of body weight. If you want to go deeper we have a separate guide to fibermaxxing.
What a higher protein day can look like
The point is not to eat more in total, but to move protein earlier in the day instead of leaving all of it to dinner.
| Occasion | How to think | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Start the day with a protein source, even if the portion is small | Grams of protein per serving |
| Mid morning | A small snack with protein rather than fruit alone | That it does not replace the main meal |
| Lunch | Fish, poultry, eggs, pulses or dairy | That you can finish the portion |
| Afternoon | The occasion most people skip, often where the gap appears | A liquid option when appetite fails |
| Dinner | The main meal, but it does not have to carry the whole day | Fibre and fluid in the same meal |
| Evening | Keep the gap to breakfast under eleven hours | Something small with protein if the gap runs long |
A simple way to work it out: take your weight in kilos times 0.83 for the reference level, or times 1.2 if you eat little and want to aim higher. Then divide that total by the number of occasions you actually eat, and you can see how much each one needs to contribute.
Seed based protein and Rain Form
If you need help closing the gap there is Rain Form, a seed based protein complex giving 20 grams of protein per serving with no sugar at all. The protein comes from pea protein, hemp protein, sacha inchi and chia seeds, and each serving contains more than 3 grams of natural BCAA, including eight essential amino acids the body cannot make itself.
Two authorised health claims apply to protein in the EU: protein contributes to a growth in muscle mass, and protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass and to the maintenance of normal bones. Those are unusually clear formulations in a field where much else has to be said with reservations.
Form is free from soy and gluten, which makes it useful if you do not tolerate milk protein. One sachet is mixed with 2.4 dl of liquid or blended into a smoothie, and it can be used as a meal replacement. One package holds 15 servings.
If digestion is sluggish, Rain Pure can be a complement, but be realistic about the numbers. One serving gives 2 grams of fibre, a small part of the daily need of 25 to 35 grams. The point of Pure is the probiotic blend of ten bacterial strains together with prebiotic inulin, not the amount of fibre in itself. Most of your fibre still has to come from food.
Good to know before you start
Supplements do not replace a varied diet and a healthy lifestyle, and they do not replace treatment your doctor has prescribed. Never change the dose of a medicine on your own.
If you have kidney disease you should always check the protein level with a doctor or dietitian before raising it. The same goes if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or take medicines regularly.
One piece of advice from the Swedish Food Agency is worth repeating: aim for balance between energy intake and energy expenditure, weigh yourself regularly and contact healthcare in the event of unintentional weight loss. If the weight falls without you wanting it to, that is not something to solve on your own with supplements.
Food supplements do not replace a varied diet and a healthy lifestyle. Do not exceed the recommended daily dose. The information in this article describes diet and content and is not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease.
Summary
The recommended protein intake for adults is 0.83 grams per kilo of body weight, and the share of protein should be increased when you eat less. For older adults, about 1.2 grams per kilo is given as a meal planning target. Studies on treatment with GLP-1 medicines show that fat mass falls more than lean mass and that muscle function can be preserved, but that assumes the protein is in place. In practice it comes down to many small meals that all contain protein, to reading grams per serving instead of per hundred grams, and to not forgetting fibre and fluid. If you want to read on you will find more articles in the health guide.