I'll Start Again Monday by Lysa TerKeurst Review: Faith-Driven Guide to Breaking Eating Cycles

I'll Start Again Monday is a revised and condensed edition of Lysa TerKeurst's earlier work Made to Crave, published by Thomas Nelson. TerKeurst, the president and chief visionary officer of Proverbs 31 Ministries and the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, draws on her own personal struggle with the cycle of losing and regaining weight to present a spiritually grounded argument: that human beings are designed to crave God, and that unhealthy eating habits frequently represent a misplacement of that deeper spiritual longing onto physical pleasures. The book's premise is that lasting change requires addressing the emotional and spiritual roots of the problem, not merely the behavioral ones. As the publisher describes it, this is explicitly "not a 'how-to' book" and "not the latest and greatest dieting plan."

Rather than prescribing meal plans or calorie counts, the book is designed to function as a companion resource alongside whatever healthy lifestyle plan a reader already follows. Its stated goals include helping readers break the cycle of perpetual restarts, replace rationalizations with wisdom, make peace with their bodies, reach healthy goals, and grow closer to God in the process. The structure is oriented toward helping readers find what TerKeurst calls their "want to" — the internal, spiritually motivated drive that she argues conventional diet culture fails to supply. The book is written to be used in tandem with practical health resources, not as a standalone nutrition guide.

Readers who encountered TerKeurst's original Made to Crave will find this edition revised and condensed — a distilled version designed to make the core message more accessible and focused. The original book established TerKeurst's reputation as a voice at the intersection of Christian faith and everyday struggle, and this edition carries that legacy forward in a tighter format. That TerKeurst is a seven-time New York Times bestselling author is a meaningful signal of her reach within the Christian living and women's inspirational space. The book's existence as a condensed edition means longtime readers of Made to Crave are reading a re-engagement with familiar material, while new readers are receiving TerKeurst's thinking in its most refined form.

The book's most clearly documented strength is its emotional resonance with its target audience. On Christianbook.com, the book holds a 4.5 out of 5 stars across reviews, with readers responding to TerKeurst's willingness to speak from personal experience and to acknowledge the psychological exhaustion of the perpetual restart cycle. The publisher's framing — that TerKeurst "understands the struggle" — reflects a tone that, according to the book's positioning, prioritizes empathy and spiritual companionship over prescription. The book is also explicitly designed to pair with other resources, which lowers the stakes for readers who worry about abandoning yet another standalone program; it is positioned as motivational infrastructure, not a total system.

The book's spiritual framework is its defining characteristic, and that same quality determines who it will and will not serve. Readers who approach food and body challenges through a Christian faith lens, and who find conventional diet culture emotionally hollow, are the audience TerKeurst is directly addressing. Readers who are secular, who prefer evidence-based behavioral or nutritional guidance, or who are uncomfortable with a devotional register will find the book's approach a poor fit — not because the advice is unsound, but because the entire motivational architecture rests on a theological premise about the nature of human craving. Similarly, readers who own and have engaged deeply with the original Made to Crave should weigh whether a condensed re-edition offers enough new material to justify a second purchase. The book makes no claim to replace a health plan; readers expecting practical dietary instruction will need to look elsewhere.