Hasn't this always been a problem in all the sims games? I remember Sims3 Erma (fisherman) in down near the water Pleasantview big shock to me when went into labor and had her baby. The neighbor who wanted nothing to do with her was Jared the babies daddy. After the baby and a makeover I put a tread mill in the house. She used it and got down to a pretty good figure. Jared's brother was smitten. LOL However when not playing the household she gained weight exponentially.
Same with Cornelia and Gunther's boy Mortimer. When he was older he gained weight too easily. Used to make him jog after dinner almost to the docks and back to maintain his weight. Meanwhile Cornelia was so thin and stayed that way Gunther also didn't need exercises to maintain his size.
I remember wondering how do they gain so much weight when un-played houses don't eat they just stand around and run around to other lots but not eating? Perhaps it was by design. In Sims 3 but I did find changing the body type definitely helped.
Sims 4 changing body types, weights sliders really don't help. They all pack the weight on. I also like sims of varying shapes and sizes but do tend to use smaller body types because I am small and exercise a few times a week. Height sliders would help too if included in the game cause I'm short too. LOL
@SqueamishNerd Wow you remember The Sims so clearly. I believe you are right about Sims 1 because they were not really life like at all.
As for sims 2 I think I might look it up and download the abandoned ware as it is free now to download and try it out again. Just downloaded The Sims Castaway stand alone (Sims 2 era). Remembered the game had some fun puzzles in it. The window they used for it is so small though, a little glitchy and need to save often. The hunger in it goes down very slowly and no weight gain so far.
I did love lots of the silly stuff the sims did on their own (In The Sims 2) for fun like swinging on the fridge door, the penguin was so cute stopping by to chat with the snowman if you built one. The werewolf with the glowing eyes that used to stalk neighborhoods at night. Put up a fence or you will have holes in your lawn. Burglars, skunks. I know I did the Sonny Day challenge from TSR in that game. Well actually a bunch of the challenges. Sonny Day was my favorite and an elder. TSR had Elder clothes that changed the bodies of elders and I used as many of them as I could find cause it got rid of the stoop and belly fat they put on elder sims. Sunny Day's challenge required him to get level 8 in exercise so no clue for weight gain on him and the clothing would possibly prevent that also. I do remember sims gaining weight but I could be confusing Sims 2 and 3.
Sims 3 for sure had weight gain. Sims 4 is out of control. LOL No weight loss for gardening, taking care of chickens, lamas, cows or horses and the related chores or upgrades you do to the house, but that salad will give you weight gain in a second if you don't swim, or exercise in some form daily.
@ReneHollyDesign1 In Sims 3, sims have a genetic weight and a current fitness. Cardio decreases their fitness but doesn't affect their genetic weight, so if they stop exercising, they gradually revert to their original weight. The same goes for overeating: they won't keep the extra weight on once the start eating normally. And they can only gain weight if they eat while having the "stuffed" moodlet, which in turn only happens if they eat when already full or close to it.
Interestingly, babies inherit the current fitness level as their genetic weight, not the parent's genetic weight. So if you have a naturally very fat sim that temporarily loses the pounds during the pregnancy, the baby will be the thinner weight even if the parent reverts later. This goes for the pregnant sim as well as their partner, whichever one the game chooses for the baby to inherit.
@puzzlezaddict Yes in The Sims 3 you did have to change the body type if you wanted them to stay smaller cause exercising wasn't a cure for weight gain. As for getting stuffed and gaining weight I don't remember that happening. However sure they weren't overeating when I wasn't playing the house hold cause they don't eat when they aren't played they stand around or run around the town.
So how do you feel the weight about the weight gain system in The Sims 4? How do you feel about all the chores the Sims carry out not counting as exercise?
@ReneHollyDesign1 I just meant that in Sims 3, if you made a sim lose weight, then didn't make them exercise (whether you were playing them or not), they'd gradually revert to their genetic weight. So Claire gaining back the pounds isn't a surprise.
Sims wouldn't typically gain weight past their genetic weight when inactive unless they're on-screen. For example, a sim might overeat at a party with a buffet, or keep going back to the deep fryer you placed on a community lot. As in real life.
For the Sims 4 system, I feel that, as with many other features, the devs tried to make a more complicated and believable system than in previous Sims games but ended up with something unnatural and annoying to use.
If I were building it, I'd prefer that the weight system was a little less responsive on the margins. A sim eating two standard home-cooked meals a day shouldn't gain or lose weight at all. Weight gain should come from too much food, or lots of junk food; weight loss should come from eating salads or smaller portions. If I were drawing it, I'd have a minimum and maximum line for calories, with some (more) room in between, and sims would have to be outside the boundaries to change weights. The day's exercise should move both lines upwards by an appropriate margin.
I don't know whether it would be feasible to build exercise-like effects into various kinds of everyday movement—whether that would be too much of a hassle or too much data for the game engine to handle. It would be nice if a sim who spent 4 hours gardening got the same benefit as one who spent 90 minutes on the treadmill, but that opens up a lot of possibilities. Chasing around a toddler is hard work, but how do you measure it? Stairs are work too, and running to "go here" is more exercise than walking. Even standing is healthier than sitting, so does standing at the easel or woodworking bench count as a plus? Or is that neutral, and sitting count as a minus? It might be the kind of thing that requires an entirely new game engine to manage.
