Needless to say, I have fell from bodybuilidng grace recently.  I was under 7.5% bodyfat (best shape of my life) and I caught the flue!  I was sick for a week, my immune system must have flopped due to the long strenuous diet and exercise. I was training for my first contest, well I am not going to make it.  I have been off my diet for 3 weeks and have gained an enormous amount of weight ( lots of water weight + fat) but I am now back on my diet and picking the training intensity back up.  The main problem, my ankles have been swolen since I got sick and pulled off the diet regimen.  I don’t know why the water won’t go away?  Anyway, I would go the the doc. but I have no insurance so that’s out of the question.  Maybe where I was dieting so extreme for the past three months (NO CHEATING) and then suddenly broke off the diet and ate whatever I wanted, could have had the most negative effect on my body’s chemistry, causing me to retain a ton of water in my ankles, but I am no doctor so whatever.