Why did I lose weight when I stopped exercising?

cchiar13

I am a 20 year old girl, and I'm used to working out 5-6x per week since I was 14. I ran and rowed competitively in high school so worked out at daily practices, and once I got to college I kept up with working out 4-6x per week. About a year and a half ago I gained ~12lbs in a month from mono/chronic fatigue/anemia and have been struggling to lose the weight. I still work out 4-6x per week, I run a lot and also do circuits 3x per week (Kayla Itsines, hers are pretty good). Despite all the working out and watching my diet, I can't seem to keep any weight off at all. 3 weeks ago, I got pretty sick (just a bad cold, my appetite's the same) so I stopped working out completely. In those 3 weeks, I've gone from 150 to 145 without any changes to my diet. Is there any reason why this might happen? I don't feel like I've lost a ton of muscle. I'm almost afraid to start working out again because I might put on weight, and I still don't feel 100% anyway (I have asthma so working out with a cold can be difficult).

sgthaggard

Water retention in your muscles would be my guess.