I could use some encouragement here, as I'm feeling a bit discouraged. So I'm venting a wee bit!

Is it possible to start off on induction and get into ketosis, and not have your body do a darn thing for a few weeks? I think my scale is busted so I haven't been using it, and I'm not feeling any change in my clothes.

On average, I eat anywhere from 2,000-2,200 calories per day (yesterday was an exception. Ate close to 3,000 and 23 carbs. yikes!) and 18-22 g of carbs (but 32-33g not subtracting the fiber). My strips are purple, my teeth get grime on them, and I've had the sleepies for a week (for a couple days a week and a half ago or so, I did stumble into some aspartame. Not a huge stumble, but I still felt out of control and I don't think I was in ketosis at the time. Just sort of maintaining status quo).

What I haven't been doing religiously is following strict induction rules. I often have 6 cups of lettuce for salad, 4-6g of cheese, and/or more than 3 packets of Splenda. But I'm not having cravings for things all that often (an occassional nudge here and there), so I'm not feeling like I need to detox.

Would that make a difference in losing, despite being in ketosis? Or could it be that the falling off the wagon and getting back on again pattern has harmed my metabolism that it's going to be really, really, really hard to lose? Any suggestions for fixing a broken metabolism?