Re: Sim size upon aging up

@greenean71 A couple of my tricks to compliment the (always!) awesome ones @PugLove888 made...

I had this (chubby tots/children) happen to a couple of toddlers/children in a row about a year ago and I was very annoyed. The only difference that I remember is I had them in the baby and toddler stage longer at that point (I was experimenting). I found that having the toddler run around did little or nothing for weight (have you found that this helps, PugLove? I was so curious about this), and they were not eating any more than normal...

But... once they are aged to child you can make them active and click on them to have them exercise, or anytime they are energized they will exercise for you if you tell them to, etc... best thing seemed to be to get them a pool or exercise bars and have them exercise that way. Mine lost their chubs pretty quickly that way and it did not return as long as items are in the home for them to be active with.

Once they are a teen a treadmill will work. My sims don't seem to stick with it consistently if I have them go on a 'jog/run' (depending on how physically inclined they are), but they will use the treadmill if it's in their home, even on their own, and I have not had any heavy sims with a treadmill in the home (unless they are already heavy, then you need to work at it for a while then maintain. I also usually add two treadmills side-by-side if I have money and space as the sims will then jog and socialize at the same time... or you can put a tv on the wall in front of it and they can learn about cooking, socialize and exercise all at once... and they will go there on their own more, since it is entertaining. PugLove and I love that multi-tasking!:eahigh_file:

Tip: I almost always get the 'Gym Rat' trait for my sims with their rewards points. It does not cost many points and then they don't need a shower after working out/running. Saves a lot of time and discomfort! 😎

You can also go into CAS and 'push in' the fat areas to make them thinner, then just maintain with exercise. I just recently bought the kitchen stuff pack at PugLove's recommendation so I am looking forward to trying the ice cream trick if needed. The only heavy sim I have is Clement Frost (Santa) though, and I want to keep him chunky! 😉

@greenean71, and @SheriGR , yes, you would want to keep Clement Frost chunky!  Can't have a skinny Santa! 🤨😃

I haven't noticed much difference if your toddler runs around al lot/dances, in regards to weight.🤔  But then again I love chubby babies/toddlers!:eahigh_file:  I really don't notice a difference until they are old enough to go to school.

In my most recent case of a toddler aging to a chubby child, I only had that Sim as a toddler a couple of Sim hours.  They ate only one meal so it shouldn't have gotten them fat. I normally play their entire toddlerhood (even when I play the long life setting) but when I'm testing I sometimes need them to age to teen quickly, which is what I was doing here. 😉

Yes, the treadmill is fantatic if your Sims can afford it and you have enough room for it.  @SheriGR  builds a lot of her own homes, so she can always make room for a treadmill or two!  I often download from various players, and some of them have every inch of space covered so that if I want a treadmill or two there isn't any room unless I alter the house, which usually looks bad after I finish it! 😳

I have a family with an Alien dad and a Vampire teen daughter that like to use the treadmills together! 🥳 Their love of exercise bonds them! ❤️  And while a TV isn't necessary, it sure helps max their needs , like Sheri stated!  I wish there were more skill channels like the Cooking Channel! ❤️

If you have the Fitness Stuff Pack there is another way to exercise if you don't have enough money for a treadmill... choose a workout routine on the TV!  There are 2 routines : power sculpting will increase their muscle definition, while the cardio will make them loose weight.  So if your Sim is a bit heavy upon aging up, this is a less expensive way to have them loose the extra pounds! 

However, if you are in a hurry to trim your Sim down to the weight they had before their birthday, the fastest way is the ice cream machine.  It fills a little bit of hunger (similar to a quick meal) but with in 1 to 2 servings you will have a slim Sim!  I had some very heavy Sims in households that I had played for years (I kept extending their lives) to where they didn't resemble the Sims I initially created.  They had a small house and no room for a treadmill and jogging wasn't working to shed the pounds, so I had to use ice cream.  Also, I am obsessed with the food festivals that come with City Living, so my Sims tend to overeat when at a festival.🤭  The ice cream really helps with that.  :eahigh_file:

If you have no interest in Cook Kitchen Stuff, then you can help your Sims stay thin by watching what they eat.  Pan fried talapia or salad is much heathier than Mac N Cheese or pancakes. 😇  Here is a great explanation of how to manage your Sims' weight : https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/tutorials/calories.php  Scroll down to the Food list for calories and more! 🙂

@greenean71and @SheriGR , here is the link for the Bug Report on Sims becoming heavy upon aging up : https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-INPUT-Female-Toddler-weight-slider-maxed-out-on-aging/m-p/7819801#M88793

Be sure to click the "Me Too" button at the top and then add your experience to the bottom! 😇

Happy Simming! 🥳

@PugLove888 The weird part is I have found no real correlation between what my sims eat and gaining weight... they just eat when they are hungry, mostly from leftovers (I cook and put in the fridge.) Once they are full they normally stop and do something else. desserts and 'quick meals' and such do not work well for filling them unless they only need to be filled halfway. I actually stick a treadmill outside on a deck or even without shelter sometimes in a small home and that does not seem to mess them up. Weird, huh? I rarely make a sim active, though, as they are a bit of a pain then and get agitated if they don't exercise. My two sims that are active actually stay quite thin. I keep finding them on the treadmill! Thank you for the link for the chubby toddlers. I wasn't sure if it was still an issue since I didn't have a problem once I stopped having them stay a baby more than a few days.... Good to know! I will have a look! 🙂

@SheriGR, I think it takes some time for the weight to build up.  I usually vary their diet and don't have a problem unless they are collecting recipies at the festivals in San Myshuno, or if they have a grand meal on Harvest Day and then again a week later on Winterfest.  That is a killer for weight control , especially if you only have one or two Sims and don't want the leftovers to "go to waste". 🤨  So I either alter those holidays to not have a Grand Meal if I am playing a smaller household, or my Sims just get really heavy!   (I guess I have a choice: the holiday food can "go to waste" or it can "go to waist"!!! 😃:eahigh_file:

@PugLove888Excellent points, as always! :eahigh_file: I agree... if you have them normally make regular stuff (not too many rich items and the things like lobster a lot - which they will sometimes keep eating after full because they like it so extra much) they seem fine...  but if you have a few huge/special meals or do a tasting or other big meal, dessert after they were already full, having them eat a family meal even if they were barely hungry, etc. they may need to work it off some. A bit more realism than we sometimes want, huh?😇

Thanks everyone for your replies. I guess I haven't seen them age up and become chubby before. It's never happened in my game yet. I do have treadmills on each lot. I also have sent chubby Sims back to CAS to thin them down some. I have used the "Instalean" potion a few times but Sims look awful after they take it. I noticed some of you mentioning this happening when toddlers age into children, which my game is ok with. It's the children that age up into teens is my main issue, but I guess the process would be the same.

I do have an adult Sim who eats like crazy, (Foodie Sim) and he gained lots of weight. I have never put him on a treadmill though. Does Sims eating stuff like bacon and eggs, etc make them gain weight? I remember in TS2 if they over ate they would get fat and I think in TS3 they did too. 

@greenean71, I think it can happen at any age change, but I just noticed it recently with my toddler aging to child.  But that is because I was testing genetics and needed to age up the baby to a teen in a short amount of time, but at the time I posted earlier I had only gotten to the child stage.  And if I don't have her loose some weight, I won't know if aging her to teen will make her heavy or not.  This time around it seems to be a problem with female Sims.  I think in the past it happened to both females and males. 🤔

As for foods making your Sims gain weight, some do have more calories, but other foods have zero, which seems to be an accident, since some of these foods are fattening in real life.  The best food to eat (that still has some calories) is Garden Salad.  The worst is Lobster Thermidor.  Check the list from Carl's Sims 4 Guide for the list of foods and calories. https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/tutorials/calories.php  (I think the previous link that I gave in the other post is broken.😳🤭  )   You will also see the section of foods that accidentally have no calories, so you can make those dishes as well .  Bacon and Eggs aren't too bad in the game, but not as good as salad.  And all of this depends on which packs you have added to your game.  Also, some foods aren't listed (like the food stall dishes that come with City Living, or the Grand Feasts that come with Seasons.  But the Grand Feasts can make your Sims fat very quickly!   And as with real life, the best way to loose weight is a combination of diet and exercise.  Just make sure you do cardio activites -- jog and use the treadmill.  ( @SheriGR & I love the treadmill combined with a TV for raising the Fun need (and Cooking skill if you have them watch the Cooking Channel) or the 2 treadmill combo for the added socialization they can get.  But some gyms have these set ups too!

Punching bag and training dummy (Strangerville) raise both cardio and muscle tone. And if you have Fitness Stuff you can do a cardio workout.  I'm not too sure how swimming and skating affect weight loss.🤔  I've used those more for fun so far.  😃

I hope this is of some help to you! 🙂  Hopefully they will fix the bug soon! 🤞

@PugLove888 @greenean71 Yes, swimming does help because it is the method by which I had my chubby girls (child) drop her weight. I can also say that the two toddlers-aged-to-children I had the weight issue with were girls.If you want to have Lobster or something fattening just don't have it often... and you can combine it with a dessert of the diet ice cream PugLove mentioned! Also, as she said, a decent reflection of real life. Balance seems key. Another decent trick is to grab the food and drag it to the trash or to the refrigerator to be used for leftovers once the sim is full so they don't overeat. Or just stop the eating interaction and distract them to some other activity.

This is still happening, but yesterday I had THE weirdest, exact opposite problem, and food seems to be the culprit. My sims have been max-fat on age-up to teen as an unwritten rule for ages, and will often be perma-stuck at that weight without using cheats to edit them in CAS mode. But yesterday I had a toddler (Jace) with a mother who has the "health nut" lifestyle trait and decided to experiment with feeding the toddler "healthy" meals out of the mother's available cooking list. Then as a child, Jace ate only about a handful of those healthy meals and otherwise ate harvestables because their garden produces a ton of edibles. I think he spent a week and a half to two weeks in child mode, and then I aged him up to teen. Immediately I could see that his waist is so thin it's cartoonish and he has muscle tone on his arms and legs which makes him look even more like an hourglass-gone-crazy.

My guess is the game is doing some kinda calorie math with normal meals and possibly even "quick" meals from the fridge, and toddlers/kids should not be eating the full meal but they do anyways because the hunger bar works the same regardless of a sim's age. I can't say for sure if the healthy meals affected Jace as that would take more experimenting with future kids, but I'm going to guess the harvestables made a huge difference because eating harvestables with adult sims seems to help them keep slim even if they don't exercise. But yeah... Jace literally looks like he... skipped abdomen day? And is missing some ribs to boot. It's that bad.