Am I the only one who doesn't like how the adults look in Sims 4? I just got the game and my sim aged up, but honestly I don't like how the adults look. I understand that you may look a little bit more chubby as an adult, but honestly I feel like they look like they're having a middle aged crisis and I hate how the clothes look on them, it's just frumpy. Does anyone else feel this way?
@1g33kynerd Did your Sim age up at all unfit? I find it depends on the build of the Sim, but some look okay with extra weight, and some do look 'odd' (like their head/face doesn't look proportional to their body, etc.) However, I do find that if I open the Sim in CAS (Create a Sim) and either physically edit them a bit (you can push their shape in CAS) or I can re-dress them (choose clothing that compliments their build - like with us, certain styles just don't compliment certain frames/builds). For instance, IRL, I stay way away from yoga pants. They just don't work for my build. 😇 You can also edit other Sims (or their clothing) in CAS, if they're hurting your eyes. 🙌 I've definitely done that one!
If you like them to look 'optimal' in whatever type of clothing they or you want to choose, you can get them more fit (but if they bulk up with muscles you will likely want to modify which clothes will compliment them well, also). I don't like to deal with finding new clothes that look well on them as they change sizes, so I usually take a route I find to be simpler. I tend to add two (side by side) treadmills on my lot with a TV in front of it. This gives me the option of thinning them down by telling them to use the treadmill, plus I have them watch the cooking channel or something helpful. I can also send a second Sim to do the same thing and they will chat while doing it... increasing their fitness, cooking, social, and fun all at the same time. Then after they have eventually trimmed down they will usually autonomously go to the treadmill and do the same (though they will watch something more fun than cooking, on their own. Lol!)
Another trick that works fantastic – including for kids – is to use the ice cream machine (from the Cool Kitchen Stuff pack) to make 'Taste of Diet' ice cream and drag it to the refrigerator. After 2-3 servings of this ice cream your Sim should lose weight. (Got that tip from @PugLove888 ❤️!) Watch out they don't eat too much of it or they'll get downright skinny.
More tips on dealing with Sim weight can be found here.
Personally, The age change that frustrates me in ways I have no cure for is the jump from adult to elder. It's severe and they seem to jump from useful and active to decrepit. I'd much prefer to add some wrinkles and even clothing and other physical & personality changes to an adult rather than go the elder route for a Sim I'm actually playing. But I'm a rather 'Type A' player in Sims... and I have aging off, so they only age up if I have them do it. 😉
If you don't want them gaining wait, you need to have them only eat salad and go jogging frequently. The calories system is annoying in Sims - doesn't matter how often they run up and down the stairs doing laundry, hike through the jungle looking for antiques, chase toddlers around the house, skip meals... the ONLY way to burn calories is to use some of the official exercise interactions, even though most foods add them.
@PipMenace You bring up some great points. Thank you for sharing what works well for you! It's really helpful to folks who are new to the game to hear ideas of methods of dealing with various aspects of the game that can be tricky, annoying, difficult... or that can snowball into something (like this area). 🙌
Many people do what you mentioned – only have them eat salads (and low calorie foods) and avoid desserts – and find it works very well for them. @1g33kynerd, if you need this, there's a great 'Carl's Guide' with tips on food/weight gain, etc... and that has a list of the calories in foods in the game: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/tutorials/calories.php.
Personally, I like having a couple of Sims on the lot who do most of the cooking and baking (or I have a butler do it) – and I just direct these to prepare a meal a couple of times a day, or sometimes two meals in a row, and I drag it/them to the refrigerator. Plus I rarely make desserts. This method has worked well for me in that they autonomously grab a leftovers when they'e hungry, and they don't seem to overeat, as they aren't combining this with me calling them to a meal when they're not actually hungry yet. However, if they get at all in the red they may be 'out of their mind' a bit and not do it autonomously, so then I will direct them to 'grab leftovers'. Anyway, this system has worked for me, but there are a number of ways people deal with this in-game that are very creative and work well (somewhat like the parallels in real life).
I used to send my Sims out to jog, but then I began finding that some of them would not keep running. I guess they weren't in the mood. 😉 So I went with on-lot options so that I could keep my eye on them. It was interesting that after they began using the treadmill regularly, especially with the TV, they seemed to get in the habit of it and not dislike it... and would do it autonomously. This was before the current system where they decide on their likes and dislikes and you 'approve' that, but in some cases you can hope they may be willing to add physical fitness as an interest/like they are 'into'.
I am not a fan of the wrinkles, which adults got. I really like the vanilla young adult skin but hate the adult skin, so I use CC to remove all these wrinkles. It’s a simple CC-Skin which override the adult skin with young adult. Normally I give the adults some wrinkles but this eyebags and default wrinkles a big NONO (not each adult looks so old!)
Because I play with aging off, none of my sims normally age up, so i never encounter the body change. I agree with @PipMenace that the calories system in sims 4 sucks. So, I simple cheated in vanilla all my townies back in shape if they got to fat. I struggle enough with weight problem in RL, I don’t want that my sims get too this problem. It’s not a healthy behaviour and should not be normalized. I wish they would add a toggle (or Trait in rewards store) to freeze body shape, as it has MCCC. Really not a fan of body changes (muscles & weight) from sims.
