Protein advice comes wrapped in urgency: shake within 30 minutes or the workout is wasted, never more than 30g per meal, casein at midnight. Let's rank what matters.
What matters most, by far: TOTAL daily protein. Meta-analyses are blunt about this — daily intake drives muscle outcomes, and timing refinements are a rounding error by comparison [1]. If you remember one number, make it your daily target, not the clock.
The 'anabolic window' — the idea that muscles only accept protein for ~30 minutes post-workout — has been studied directly. The window, if it exists, looks more like a garage door: several hours wide on either side of training, and mattering mainly if you trained fasted [2]. Missing your shake is not missing your gains.
The '30g maximum per meal' myth confuses two things: the amount that maximally stimulates muscle protein synthesis in one sitting (real, roughly 25-40g depending on body size) versus the idea that extra protein is 'wasted' (false — it's still digested, used, and contributes to your daily total and fullness).
What's mildly true: spreading protein across meals beats cramming it into one, and protein-rich meals keep you fuller (see our satiety lesson). Older adults benefit from slightly bigger per-meal doses.
So: hit your daily number, put decent protein in most meals, train consistently. Everything else is optimization theater — fine as a hobby, irrelevant as a requirement.