You are going to end a with a very slow growing plant thats going to take 5 months or more to finish and end up harvesting a quarter of an ounce if you are lucky.
Since it is already well into flowering, there can be no more growth or recovery, just the final maturation of the flowers that still remain.
In my opinion, just cut your losses and start again.
There is no need to ever defoliate to "increase bud size",,,,,,,,,,that is pure ghetto science.
More leaves = more energy being made = more (bud) growth.