John Henderson has revealed the motivation behind his weight loss ahead of his return to the Alexandra Palace stage this evening.
Henderson has lost over four stone in 2020 and is gearing up for a second round meeting with Jonny Clayton at the William Hill World Darts Championship.
The 47-year-old has never made it beyond the last 16 stage at Ally Pally, but is hoping to have many more chances to put the record straight.
"I knew I needed to do something about my weight and I have done something," said Henderson.
"I want to be playing this game into my late 50s, so health comes first. I need to look after myself.
"I'm a diabetic and when they told me my weight a few months ago I was shocked how bad it was.
"I haven't changed that much, I go walking a lot.
"You see the young lads coming through now, you need to be physically fit enough to compete with them over long games.
"But I'm only half-way to where I want to be with the weight loss, I want to go even further.
"I don't think it's anything to do with why I've not been playing as well. People say I'm not rocking as much when I throw so maybe I need to look at that."
Henderson struggled to a 3-2 win over Finland's Marko Kantele in his first round game on Friday.
The Scot, who proudly represented his country for the first time at November's World Cup of Darts, was left non-plussed by the performance but is confident of avoiding a repeat against Clayton.
"I never make things easy when I play here," Henderson admitted.
"I was the winner of a terrible game, and I hate saying that.
"This is probably the best I've felt coming into Ally Pally so I can't understand why I played so badly.
"It's been a horrible year, preparation hasn't been great for me but I've come in here buzzing.
"I've always been a better player as the underdog so going into the next game against Jonny I think I will step my game up."
William Hill World Darts Championship
Sunday December 20 - Revised Schedule
Evening Session (1800 GMT)
2x First Round, 2x Second Round
Cameron Carolissen - Bye (R1)
Keegan Brown v Ryan Meikle (R1)
Jeffrey de Zwaan v Ryan Searle (R2)
Jonny Clayton v John Henderson (R2)
Best of five sets (no tie-breaks in deciding sets)