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cofactor · 4
The recommended amount for ordinary adults, 0.8 g per kilogram of body weight a day, is a floor to prevent deficiency, not an amount set for training adaptation. The Morton 2018 meta-analysis found that for people doing strength training, muscle gains largely level off at about 1.6 g per kilogram a day; those who want to maximize gains can go up to about 2.2 g.
Older muscle builds less protein from the same meal (anabolic resistance). Morton 2018 cites per-meal amounts at which muscle protein synthesis nears its plateau of about 0.24 g per kilogram of body weight in younger adults and about 0.40 g in older adults. So the answer for older adults is enough high-quality protein at each meal plus strength training, not an ever-lighter diet.
Protein supplies the raw material and mechanical tension supplies the signal; without either, muscle does not grow. So the 30-minute post-workout window matters less than people think: keep the meals before and after training no more than about 3–4 hours apart, and focus on total daily protein and weekly training volume.
When you train strength and endurance together, the muscle-building side depends on enough protein and recovery. In a meta-analysis of 49 randomized trials, people doing strength training stopped gaining extra lean mass once they reached about 1.6 g/kg of protein a day; to leave a safety margin, you can go up to 2.2 g/kg.