Watford captain Troy Deeney says he feels the fittest he has in his career.
Watford's season stalled on the starting gate with a surprise 3-0 home defeat by Brighton on the weekend.
But Deeney said: “It's the best I've felt in my career. I'm at my lightest, my lowest body fat and it hasn't been easy ignoring the best of the all-inclusive in the Caribbean.
“But I know it's going to be worth it in the short term and longer down the track.
“This time last year, there were the noises knocking around about me being finished and all that sort of stuff.
“Sometimes I've let wider comments and people's opinions affect me, but now I know my job is to deliver and make sure we win games.
“I signed for this club on the day of an away game at Norwich in early August 2010. This will be my 10th season and I cost £500,000.
“At the time, the narrative was about the club using all its available money on one player – and what (would happen) if it didn't work out?
“Times have changed a little bit – within a decade of that, Watford have just paid out well over 50 times that figure for our new young lad Ismaila Sarr."