there's too many factors involved, the body is a complicated system. You might have not been working out as hard as possible during that time. It is only recently you tried 3/3. So maybe you weren't working intense enough.

You are not going to see much muscle growth on a deficit. You will do well to keep hold of what muscle you have, so you stress it as efficiently as possible, and then rest to let diet take care of the fatloss. It's a balancing act. What you are doing is working, but maybe try have one more rest day a week and see how that affects you this time round?

Diet first anyway. I'm sure I've lost weight since Wednesdays weigh-in, despite not hitting the gym at all.. but all this coughing is giving my abs a great workout :)