Man who tried to go 30 days without protein shares impact it had on his body

A man who attempted to go 30 days without protein ended up having to boycott the experiment a third of the way through because of how his body had been impacted.

Manuel Enrique Marin Colorado wanted to challenge himself in new ways by completely cutting protein out of his diet to see what happens – and it turned out to be much harder than he anticipated.

Protein is pretty much in everything; there's 0.6g per 100g in watermelon, and approximately 5g of protein in 100g of dark chocolate. With this in mind, Manuel's options were extremely limited and he found himself having to eat candy before a workout for energy.

Manuel told UNILAD: "Protein is in everything now, water, snacks, literally every food has a ‘protein version.’ I wanted to see what would actually happen if I cut it out completely instead of just cutting back."

Manuel discussed the experiment with his doctor beforehand who warned the content creator that his body would 'try eat its own muscles'.

Going on to show what kind of foods he was able to have that had zero protein in it, Manuel ate things like zero protein sourdough bread, olive oil, vegan cheese, and butter.

After the first day, he said he was feeling alright. By day 10, however, Manuel was physically sick from eating 'the worst food he'd every put in his body'.

"My workouts got weaker every day, I stopped looking in the mirror, my physique started breaking down, and my brain didn't even feel like mine anymore," he said of the impact of having no protein had on him.

After he was sick, Manuel decided to end the challenge, which is shared in more detail on his YouTube channel. Looking at his body metrics after day 10, he found that he had only lost 0.3 kilos of muscle and dropped 1.1 percent body fat.

"I think lifting weights almost every day is the only reason I didn’t lose more muscle," he told us. "Without training, I don’t think the results would’ve been the same."

While he ended up making himself ill from the experiment, Manuel says it was the mental toll that was the hardest thing.

"The hardest part wasn’t physical, it was mental," he explained. "I was eating such strange food combinations just to hit my calories without protein that it messed with my head more than my body."

Manuel went on to warn others not to try the challenge for themselves.

"I wouldn’t recommend anyone actually do this, that’s not the point of the video," he shared. "It’s more about realizing how much protein is pushed into everything, and how important it is to think about the quality and type of protein you eat, not just hitting a number."

Manuel added: "If people find this kind of experiment interesting, I’ve got more like it coming, I’m currently documenting a peptide experiment and a series testing intense Korean skincare treatments."