I’ll Start Again Monday – Lysa TerKeurst

I'll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction by Lysa TerKeurst
Also by this author: You're Going to Make It: 50 Morning and Evening Devotions to Unrush Your Mind, Uncomplicate Your Heart, and Experience Healing Today
Published by Thomas Nelson on January 4, 2022
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life
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four-half-stars

*I'll Start Again Monday is a newly revised and condensed version of Lysa's bestseller Made to Crave.*
Have healthy eating plans left you feeling defeated? Based on her bestseller Made to Crave, Lysa TerKeurst offers a new perspective to all those stuck in the cycle of losing weight and then gaining it back, equipping you with the deeper spiritual and emotional motivation you need to make lasting changes.
So often we characterize our food cravings as bad, especially when dieting has made us feel even more disappointed and discouraged. But the reality is we were made to crave. We just need to realize God created us to crave more of Him instead of misplacing that craving by overindulging in physical pleasures and unhealthy choices that will never truly satisfy.
In the midst of her own personal struggle with this, New York Times bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst invites us to embrace a new outlook that leads to enduring change. In this newly revised and condensed version of Made to Crave, Lysa encourages you to:
Break the cycle of "I'll start again Monday" and start taking steps toward consistency that lastsStop agonizing over numbers on the scale and make peace with your bodyReplace rationalizations that lead to failure with wisdom that leads to victoryReach your healthy goals and grow closer to God through the processThis is not a "how-to" book. This is not the latest and greatest dieting plan. This is the necessary resource to use alongside whatever healthy lifestyle plan you choose that will help you find your "want to" and lead to a spiritual satisfaction that goes far beyond the physical.

It’s January and the gyms are full of people trying to get a strong start on their New Year’s resolution: lose weight. Eat healthier, eat less, exercise more, or some combination of the three, weight loss tops the annual resolutions list. A recent Ipsos poll covering thirty countries found that 45% of the people they talked to said they were trying to lose weight. Yet, most of those people won’t find success.

It’s Monday and you’re beginning again. You did a good job last week. Until Friday (or Thursday). Or maybe you didn’t do a good job last week, but Monday. You’ll start it again on Monday. You’re stuck in this cyclical pattern of unhealthy habits and any failure means that you’ll reset…next week. In her book Made to Crave, Lysa TerKeurst pointed out that the thing that often causes failure in the weight journey—a deep craving—isn’t inherently bad. It’s all in what we have a craving for. In I’ll Start Again Monday, TerKeurst (appropriately? ironically?) trims down that bestselling book into a svelte pocket (or purse) sized version that keeps all of the essentials of her message.

I’ll Start Again Monday, begins with the premise that cravings are not inherently bad—but that we crave what our body is used to. Developing a healthy eating plan is about overcoming bad cravings, but more importantly about replacing them with a better alternative. And this doesn’t necessarily tie itself to weight loss. It’s more about the way food can be used as an emotional outlet or a coping mechanism. It’s about self-control, which is a spiritual discipline.

It’s not that God demands you be thin or that God doesn’t want you to eat a donut. But Scripture is clear that we should learn to have mastery over our bodies. For TerKeurst, developing healthy eating habits led to lasting spiritual satisfaction. It wasn’t just about the physical weight, it was about the spiritual transformation that came along with TerKeurst’s new eating habits—a transformation that actually made her stick to those habits.

Throughout the book, TerKeurst shares her own story, putting it all about there in a very vulnerable and matter-of-fact way, right down to the numbers on the scale. It’s a relatable, exhortative narrative in which TerKeurst positions herself as someone just along the journey. She’s a not a weight loss guru or fitness expert. She’s just a person who loves Jesus who no longer ties her weight to her happiness, but has learned spiritual satisfaction in healthy eating.

I’ll be honest with you, dear reader, though I am not the target demographic for this book, I am a person that could stand to lose a few pounds. When you go from elite athlete in your teens to athletics coach in your twenties to more sedentary pastor in your thirties, your eating habits have to change. Mine have been slow to adjust, let’s say. I’ll Start Again Monday was encouragement for me to stick with some changes I committed to at the beginning of the year. TerKeurst shows how spiritually cleansing taking control of your body can be—and if you lose a few pounds along the way, even better.

(Note: While I’ve not read Made to Crave, which was originally released in 2010, a lot of negative reviews that I’ve read on Amazon complain that they were unaware I’ll Start Again Monday was a revised/condensed version of that book. While maybe that could have been made clearer, the back cover copy clearly calls it a version of Made to Crave. So fair warning, if you’ve already read Made to Crave, it seems like you won’t find anything new here.)

four-half-stars