The Combat Dietitian

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The Combat Dietitian Jack Doherty
Bachelor of Exercise & Health Science
Masters of Dietetics 2021
Team member at &
[email protected]

13/10/2026

Full day of eating in Bali.

Wholefoods, enjoyable meals, flexibility and still hitting 200+ grams of protein.

My only goals with nutrition while on holiday are to keep performance high, maximise recovery, prioritise protein, maintain some structure and enjoy myself. I’m not trying to track every calorie or make every meal perfect.

Travelling can create anxiety around nutrition for some people, particularly when routines change and food choices are less predictable. But there are always ways to maintain some consistency without letting nutrition dictate your holiday.

Prioritise protein, include nutrient-dense wholefoods, stay hydrated, keep moving and enjoy the foods and experiences that come with travelling.

You don’t need to choose between enjoying your holiday and looking after your health and performance.

The goal is to have structure without restriction, flexibility without losing direction, and consistency without perfection.

06/10/2026

A key point when looking at testosterone: total testosterone alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

Total testosterone tells you how much testosterone is circulating, but SHBG helps determine how much is bound, while free testosterone gives us a better indication of the fraction that is available to tissues.

Two people can have a similar total testosterone result but very different SHBG and free testosterone, potentially changing the physiological context and how they feel or perform.

That’s why I don’t think you should look at one number in isolation.

If you’re investigating performance, recovery, body composition, energy, libido or overall health, look at the full picture: total testosterone, SHBG and free testosterone, alongside the broader bloodwork and individual context.

A result being “within range” doesn’t necessarily mean there’s nothing worth investigating.

Caffeine is one of the most researched performance supplements, but 3–6 mg/kg is a research range, not a prescription.Mo...
05/10/2026

Caffeine is one of the most researched performance supplements, but 3–6 mg/kg is a research range, not a prescription.

More caffeine does not automatically mean better performance.

The effective dose can vary considerably between individuals based on body mass, habitual intake, tolerance, timing, training demands and sensitivity to caffeine.

For some athletes, a lower dose can provide the performance benefit without unnecessarily increasing side effects such as jitters, elevated heart rate, anxiety or disrupted sleep.

The goal isn’t to take the biggest dose you can tolerate. It’s to find the lowest effective dose that improves performance without compromising recovery.

Caffeine is a tool. Dose it with context.

01/10/2026

Most people think we overvalue protein.

But maybe, when you’re in a calorie deficit, we actually underestimate how useful it can be.

When calories are restricted, protein becomes particularly important for two things:

Satiety.
Protein is highly satiating, which can make a calorie deficit easier to adhere to, especially when hunger starts increasing.

Muscle retention.
When you’re losing weight, the goal isn’t simply to make the number on the scales go down. We want to maximise fat loss while retaining as much lean mass as possible. Adequate protein, combined with resistance training, is a major part of that.

This can be particularly relevant for females dieting aggressively, where maintaining muscle, managing hunger and maintaining training quality all matter.

And despite the constant debate around “too much protein”, current research does not show that higher-protein diets, within commonly studied ranges, inherently cause negative health outcomes in healthy individuals.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to eat enormous amounts of protein.

It means context matters.

Your protein target should reflect your body size, training, calorie intake, dieting phase and overall diet.

In a deficit, I’d rather see someone prioritise enough protein, nutrient-dense foods and quality carbohydrates and fats than simply slash calories and hope for the best.

Because the goal of a successful diet isn’t just weighing less.



It’s being leaner, stronger, better recovered and able to maintain the result.

29/09/2026

“I’m under eating and I still can’t lose weight.”

I hear this all the time.

But often the problem isn’t that you’re incapable of losing weight.

It’s that you’re under-eating most of the time, then overeating enough to wipe out the deficit you created.

You might have a few very low-calorie days where you feel like you’re being extremely disciplined.

Monday: barely eating.
Tuesday: barely eating.
Wednesday: barely eating.

Then training fatigue, hunger, cravings, social events, alcohol, takeaway, larger portions or simply feeling like you’ve “earned it” starts to creep in.

And suddenly Friday, Saturday and Sunday look very different.

The individual days might feel like extremes, but your body responds to the overall energy balance across time, not how restricted you felt on Monday.

For example, someone could eat 1,500 calories for four days and feel like they are massively under-eating, then average 3,000+ calories across the other three days.

They can genuinely feel like they “barely eat” while their weekly average is sitting around maintenance.

This is why I’m not a fan of judging a diet based on your lowest-calorie days.

The better questions are:

What does your weekly average intake actually look like?

How consistent are your portions?

How much are you eating on weekends?

Are you compensating for restriction?

How much alcohol, takeaway, snacks and untracked food are coming into the week?

And perhaps most importantly, can you sustain the intake without constantly feeling deprived?

Because extreme restriction followed by overeating creates a cycle that makes fat loss unnecessarily difficult.

The answer usually isn’t to eat even less.

It’s to create a realistic, consistent deficit that you can actually maintain across the entire week.

You don’t need to be perfect.

You need your average intake, activity and recovery to consistently support the outcome you’re trying to achieve.

Stop looking at the lowest-calorie day and start looking at the whole week.

24/09/2026

8 weeks. A structured approach to losing body fat, improving nutrition and building habits that actually last.

No crash diets. No extreme restrictions. No relying on motivation every day.

The focus is on the fundamentals that make the biggest difference: nutrition, protein, food quality, training, movement, recovery and consistency.

The goal isn’t just to look different after 8 weeks. It’s to understand how to eat, train and structure your lifestyle in a way you can continue beyond the challenge.

If you’re ready to put some structure around your nutrition and make a change, the 8 Week Weight Loss Challenge is now available.

Link in bio.

22/09/2026

Whether you are a top level pro or amateur you should be doing things in the same detail. The nutrition space has been diluted with basic information, basic approaches and making people believe optimisation is simple and easy, it’s not.

Integrating bloodwork with Izzy to make sure we’re covering all bases.

It’s not just about calories and macros. We’re looking at nutritional status, diet quality, gut health, specific deficiencies and where targeted supplementation can actually add value.

The goal is to take all of that information and put it together into a nutrition strategy that is individualised to the athlete, their training, their lifestyle and their performance requirements.

Every part of the process has a purpose.

16/09/2026

Throwback to my fight this time last year.

Here’s an insight into the fight day fuelling strategy I utilised myself and how I approached nutrition in the hours leading into competition.

Fight day nutrition is about much more than simply getting carbohydrates in. The goal is to arrive at the fight with energy availability optimised, glycogen topped up, hydration maintained and the gut comfortable, without creating unnecessary digestive stress or feeling overly full.

My intake was structured around the time of the fight, with carbohydrate timing and food selection becoming increasingly important as I got closer to stepping into the ring. I focused on easily digested, familiar foods and fluids that I knew I could tolerate, while avoiding anything that could compromise gut comfort or leave me feeling heavy.

The strategy also had to account for everything that happened before this point. The weight cut, weigh-in, rehydration, refuelling and recovery between weigh-in and fight day all influence how you can approach the final hours before competition.

This is why fight day fuelling cannot be looked at in isolation. It is the final part of a much bigger nutrition strategy designed around the individual athlete, their weight cut, weigh-in-to-fight interval, training demands, body composition, sweat losses, food preferences and previous response to different fuelling strategies.

This was the approach I used on myself, based on what I knew about my own physiology, training and performance requirements.

What works for one fighter isn’t necessarily what works for another.

14/09/2026

Throwback to UFC Serbia with 𝕹 𝖆 𝖛 𝖆 𝖏 𝖔

Fight week nutrition is not simply about eating less and watching the scale move.

As we get closer to weigh-in, the nutritional strategy changes.

Protein stays high to help maintain lean tissue and satiety. Dietary fat can remain relatively higher, while carbohydrate, fibre, food volume and sodium are progressively reduced where appropriate.

The objective is to reduce gut contents, glycogen-associated water and overall food volume without unnecessarily compromising the athlete before they even step on the scales.

This is where individualisation becomes critical.

The timing and extent of these changes depend on the athlete, their body composition, previous weight cuts, carbohydrate intake, digestive response, sweat rate, training demands and, importantly, how much time they have between weigh-in and competition.

Low fibre and lower food volume can help reduce gastrointestinal contents.

Lower carbohydrate intake reduces glycogen stores and the water stored alongside them.

Sodium manipulation can influence fluid balance.

But none of these strategies should be viewed in isolation, and more aggressive does not mean better.

The days of massive weight cuts for the sake of making a number are changing.

At the highest level, the goal is to arrive at the scales in the best possible condition, then have enough time and a clear enough strategy to rebuild hydration, electrolytes, glycogen and energy availability before competition.

Because making weight is only half the job.

The real question is:

Can we make weight, recover from it, and still have the athlete ready to perform at their highest level?

That is what fight week nutrition is designed around.

Massive shoutout to my bro WILL SLINGSBY 🎥📸 , who is with me throughout fight week with Nav, capturing everything at the highest level 📸

10/09/2026

Fish oil is one of those supplements that has traditionally been associated with heart and brain health.

But the research around EPA and DHA is continuing to expand, particularly in sport.

Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses are showing potential benefits for exercise recovery, including reductions in muscle soreness and markers of muscle damage, while some research is also showing improvements in muscle function and aspects of exercise physiology. (PubMed)

For athletes training hard, recovering well is ultimately part of performance.

The goal is not simply to take a supplement because it is popular. It is about understanding the athlete, their diet, their omega-3 intake and status, training demands and what they are actually trying to achieve.

EPA and DHA are two of the supplements I consider when building the bigger picture around health, performance and recovery. oil

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