Fig. 1

Degree of dietary energy restriction during four to five weeks of intermittent energy restriction (IER) and continuous energy restriction (CER). The IER cohort undertook 65 % energy restriction (ER) on two consecutive days per week and additionally restricted their energy intake to an average of 38 % below their baseline intake on the remaining five days of the week, which was unplanned (blue solid line). The planned and unplanned energy restriction resulted in an overall 45 % energy restriction over the one-month trial period (blue dashed line). For comparison our previous study of CER involved a 60 % daily energy restriction over a one-month period. TP1 time point 1 (baseline): breast gene expression, adipocyte size, serum hormones, urine and serum metabolomics, weight and anthropometry. TP2 time point 2 (immediately after two restricted days): breast gene expression, adipocyte size, serum hormones, urine and serum metabolomics, weight and anthropometry. TP3 time point 3 (after 5 days of normal healthy eating): serum hormones, urine and serum metabolomics, weight and anthropometry