HPLC_Greg said:

A defensible baseline is short: HbA1c and fasting glucose, a lipid panel with ApoB if you can get it, ALT and AST, creatinine with eGFR, TSH, ferritin…

Pushing back on HPLC_Greg here. I would drop the "get everything" instinct further than this thread does. Every extra test is another chance at a false positive, and incidental findings have their own cost in scans, biopsies and worry.

Dr.KarenChen said:

I got a full panel before starting and a repeat at three months, and the second one is more useful than the first purely because I now have something…

Blood work came back perfect. baseline bloodwork + this community = winning. 🏆

JennaRN said:

I would drop the "get everything" instinct further than this thread does.

Shot day Friday report relevant to baseline bloodwork:

Week 18. Currently on 15mg. Down 24 lbs from starting weight of 236 lbs.

This week's observations: Slight injection site redness, resolved in 24h.

Labs due next week — looking forward to seeing the metabolic panel. I'll post results in the Lab Results section when they come in.

One thing that is still open after Dr.EndoIndy’s answer:

How often to repeat it, because quarterly seems to be the convention and I cannot find the reasoning?

Closing the loop on my own question.

Took the whole panel in rather than the one flagged line, and the conversation lasted two minutes instead of generating three more tests.