Budget labs — what's the minimum viable panel?

Ulta Lab Tests or Marek Health, cash pay:

• CBC: ~$18
• CMP: ~$22
• Lipid + ApoB: ~$30
• HbA1c: ~$20
• Fasting insulin: ~$28

Total: ~$118. That's your 'minimum viable GLP-1 panel'. Pull once at baseline, once at ~12 weeks, once at 24 weeks. Under $400 for a year of solid tracking.

Great breakdown. I'd add Lp(a) as a ONE-TIME pull ($22-ish) since it's genetic. You do it once in your life and you know for good.

Perfect, this is exactly what I needed. Thank you.

One caveat — 'cheap' labs use the same assays and LabCorp/Quest facilities as the expensive ones. You're not trading accuracy for price, you're trading doctor-consultation-time for price.

Honestly the $118 baseline sounds solid but I'm still nervous about missing something. Like, should I be checking liver function too if I'm running GLP-1s long-term? I see people talk about pancreatitis risk and that makes me want to get AST/ALT in there. Anyone pulling liver panels alongside this or is that overkill for just GLP use.