Why That Carefully Prepared Protocol Isn’t Working Yet
You’ve mapped out a beautiful plan.
The labs are clear, the prescription is solid, the diet and lifestyle recs are spot-on.
But your client?
Still tired. Still bloated. Still stuck.
Still wondering why they don’t feel any different.
This is where many incredible practitioners start doubting themselves.
What am I missing? Why aren’t they changing?
Here’s the truth most of us weren’t taught:
Until the body feels safe, change will always feel like a threat.
Metabolic Health Starts With Safety…Not Strategy
There’s a cascade that happens inside the body the moment it perceives a threat:
The amygdala fires → triggering the hypothalamus
The sympathetic nervous system activates
Adrenaline surges, heart rate rises, blood sugar floods the system
The HPA axis releases cortisol to keep the body on high alert
And in that moment, the body shuts down anything non-essential:
❌ Digestion
❌ Reproductive hormones
❌ Detox pathways
❌ Restorative sleep cycles
❌ Motivation to “stick to the plan”
The body isn’t broken.
It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do: survive.
Your Clients Aren’t Non-Compliant — Their Nervous System Is Overloaded
This is where we need to reframe the story.
That client who keeps “falling off the wagon”?
The one who cancels appointments, self-sabotages, or goes silent when things start working?
They’re not lazy.
They’re not unmotivated.
And you haven’t failed them.
What you’re seeing is a subconscious response to change.
Their body might associate rest with laziness.
Success with danger.
Weight loss with vulnerability.
Support with shame.
These beliefs and stress patterns are stored in the nervous system — often since childhood — and they show up in the body before your beautiful protocol ever has a chance to work.
Hormones, Weight, Energy, Mood — It’s All Connected
The long-term effects of chronic nervous system activation?
Progesterone depletion
Cortisol dysregulation
Insulin resistance
Sleep disturbances
Emotional eating
Hormonal imbalances that “shouldn’t” be there
All stemming from a body that doesn’t feel safe enough to regulate.
And no, it's not always “just stress.”
It’s the subconscious stress. The stress we don’t see. The stress that doesn’t show up on paper.
This is the missing link in so many metabolic cases.
So What Can You Do Differently?
➡️ Start asking about identity.
Is your client a perfectionist? A fixer? A people-pleaser?
These roles aren’t just personality traits — they’re nervous system survival strategies.
➡️ Get curious about their self-talk.
What do they believe about their body? Their worth? Their capacity for change?
➡️ Don’t be afraid to talk about sabotage.
It’s not a flaw. It’s a feedback loop. It tells you exactly where the system doesn’t feel safe.
➡️ Learn how to access the subconscious.
This is what we teach inside ERT — because when you can speak the nervous system’s language,
you stop guessing, and start getting results.
You’re Not Missing Anything… You’re Just Not Seeing the Whole Picture
Protocols are powerful. But they’re not the whole puzzle.
When you combine your clinical skill with an ability to assess and process subconscious stress,
you finally start to see the shifts you know are possible.
This is how results become lasting.
This is how your practice becomes full.
This is how mastery begins.