@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.
@puzzlezaddict I use UI cheats and make sure my sims are very hungry before they eat, the hunger line is not all the way full when they finish eating sometimes. However they still gain weight in about 5 real life hours of game play so many Sim days have passed. I am always surprised because I know how careful I am at checking their intake.
@ReneHollyDesign1 @SqueamishNerd I wonder whether not eating until full actually helps at all. Since the hunger bar will decline at the same rate (absent a mod or reward trait), don't your sims just end up eating more smaller meals throughout the day? I'd only expect that to help, from a game mechanic standpoint, if being full was itself a contributing factor to weight gain.
At any rate, I think we all agree that there should be a way for sims to maintain their weight without reward traits or mods, and without having to spend a lot of their time in designated athletic activities.
@puzzlezaddict I think the only way for them to stay the size you made them is for the game not to have weight gain at all. I'm sure people would complain about that not being very realistic. I know people like Seasons in the game for realism however I don't care for it at all. There were too many rainy days and plants dying. The game just seems to go over the top on features. I got rid of Seasons however I can't fix a way around the weight problem. Even only allowing the sim to have a meal once a day and using UI cheats to top them up if needed they still gain weight. Sometimes there is no win. I still love the game as glitchy as it is. LOL
@SqueamishNerd I tested today and only let the Sim have one meal a day and she was very hungry with the line in red before I let her eat. Salads and Yogurt she made. Then when she was hungry later I top her up using UI cheats. I spent from about 1 pm till 11:30 pm with this Sim to see if it would stop them from gaining. It didn't work. I took her in CAS and she was bigger. Not a whole lot bigger but still bigger, still she gained weight. Over time it would be the same problem.
