No, they didn't. I will explain why. The moment you started ripping off her food supply, you stalled your plant. If you had never removed the leaves, she would not have to recover and your buds would have been bigger. Removing leaves causes stress. Stress causes the plant to stall. After the recovery period, it will take the plant some time to get back to its previous productivity. Where in there do you think you caused it to grow bigger buds? Buds do not have the surface area of a big, fat fan leaf, so how do you propose this is working? Buds are the fruit of the plant, they are not part of the production, they are the final product. Yes, they do have leaves and are a small part of the light intake, but nowhere near the scale of a healthy fan leaf.
If flowers grow on the bottom of the plant without direct light, why you do need to remove the solar panels for them to grow?