Cut Branches in Flowering

Losing a Few days of veg stretch vs bigger buds during late flower is a better trade off IMO since pruned branches don't consume energy ;) no wrong way.

Looks like you already did some hacking. Plant looks like it handled it well. I say go for it and take off any branches you feel wont produce.

I personally let autos grow naturally without any training. I agree with Whiteybulger1814...their lifespan is short to spend days recuperating.

Never, I know people like to say you can defoliate a little or even a lot but truth be told you should even start a autoflower in a smaller pot and transplant because they need time to recuperate, think of plant being on a tight schedule to get somewhere and when you defoliate that take away from the days it takes to get to where it needs to be, it usually takes a couple days to recuperate after defoliation and those 2 days could have been used productively on upward and out ward growth and or bud site production...Not worth it let it ride and be the plant it wants to be

Autos don't like to much defoliating and I don't see what the issue is she's doing OK however I don't think your going to be ready for the chop in 5 weeks and I doubt you will get any plants from seed to harvest in 12 weeks I'd say that your going to need a good 6 or 7 weeks yet and I won't have a close look for any male pods happy growing

This plant isn't tall enough to do much thinning .tuck or snip few leaves of for air flow

First tuck any leaves under bud sites that you can - there's no point removing any leaves which aren't getting in the way as they all aid the plant in photosynthesis and may well be used by the plant for additional nutrient draw down when the plant is finishing. If, after tucking, there are some leaves which are still blocking light to bud sites, you can remove those.

For autos I try to keep it light and I usually only cut fan leaves that are blocking light from tops, or or blocking light from reaching numerous lower leaves. I'll also remove leaves that've gone yellow over time and start to shrivel since they can cause fungal issues, etc.