Tried writing a story with ZERO adverbs for a week, here's what broke

I saw a writing prompt challenge that said cut every word ending in "ly" from your draft. I thought it'd be easy, I use maybe 10 per page anyway. Took my 2,200 word short story set in a rainy Seattle diner and started chopping. By day 3 I realized my action tags were all mush. Characters just "said" everything or I had to rewrite whole scenes to show tone through props instead. Like instead of "she whispered nervously" I made her tap the ketchup bottle 3 times. It made the piece denser but the pacing got weird. Kept it for one scene and threw it out. Has anyone else tried a word ban that actually improved their final draft, or just made writing feel like a puzzle?

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