Skipped reintro- how do I salvage this?

[helenlovescello]

I just finished my first Whole 30 at the end of August. I loved it! It was a little difficult, but I had so many non-scale benefits that I refuse to weigh myself (I'll forget all about them if I do, no matter what the scale says). I was going to do the full reintroduction period, but then I just.... Didn't. Now the problems my Whole 30 got rid of have returned. One of them is a nasty case of tendonitis/tennis elbow/golfer's elbow, which was keeping me from being able to practice (I'm a cellist!) and hence keeping me from pursuing my career the way I would like to. 

My friend and I were going to do an October Whole 30 after taking a break for September, but I don't want to continue to destroy my results until then. 

So my question is, how do I salvage this? Do I need to just do another Whole 30 right now, and not worry about my friend? Can I do mostly Whole 30 compliant meals but have sushi once a week and not interrogate waiters when I go on dates? Has anybody else dealt with this problem? 

[ShannonM816]

There's no reason you couldn't go ahead and go back to Whole30 eating, even if your friend isn't ready to start. I've found it's not always good to depend on having a friend go through Whole30 with you anyway, as sometimes they are not as committed as you and may not stick to it as well as you'd like them to -- hopefully that's not the case with your friend, but it's still good not to depend on someone else. You're doing this for you, and if what you're eating is affecting your ability to work, it makes sense to change what you're eating as soon as you can. 

It could work for you to set rules for yourself like eating Whole30 at home, and then not worrying about an occasional restaurant meal. Just pay attention to how you feel after those restaurant meals, and be honest with yourself about whether the tradeoff of not having to ask questions at the restaurant is worth the result. It may be fine for you, or it may not be -- that's something only you can decide based on how you feel. While we'd really recommend doing reintroductions to help you make decisions about what foods are worth it to you, you can still use some of the tips for life after Whole30 to decide what works for you. There are tips here:  https://whole30.com/step-four-finished  or if you prefer a book, you might want to find a copy of Food Freedom Forever, which is all about figuring out how to eat for the rest of your life to be the healthiest you can be.