it's abit too late for me to catch up with others... i only caught 200+ pokemon 200 more to go.. if lucky no healer i can take 30min to defeat gym
need 2hr to farm items heal all my pokemon that fainted.
It depwnds how does ur catching up with others means
1.If for exp u can make alot of new friends and 1 time lucky egg
2. For stardust u can 1 either invest on pogo plus( about 30 dollars) which allow u to spin catch hatch more effective than AS where u can jog and collect items
3. Where is for gym exp/defending either u join a group or have 2 acc to aid u in taking down, less taxing on ur pots also
4. For pokedex, this is the last thing on on concern, sooner or later u will get it
Even with a lvl 40, i do not have pkm like milotic, gardevoir,wailord and the swablu evolved form