Fitness (attribute)

Fitness is a physical attribute of Sims in The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. Unlike real-life fitness, a Sim's fitness has very little impact on anything other than their appearance. Fitness is not affected by or dependent on the body/athletic/fitnessskill. Fitness is generally increased through exercise and avoiding over-eating, and fitness is decreased through lack of exercise and eating too much.

The Sims
Fitness is not an attribute in The Sims. A Sim's body shape is determined by the clothes being worn, and, unlike later games, is not affected by exercise, eating or any other activity. However, prior to Hot Date, using a dresser could change a Sim's body shape, or using custom dressers based on pre-Hot Date dressers when Hot Date is installed.

The Sims 2
In The Sims 2, each Sim has a fitness scale, which can be seen in their Simology panel. The scale is divided into thirds, with the lower third being fat and the upper third being fit. The middle third is usually called "Thin". When creating a Sim in Create a Sim or Body Shop, the player can choose whether the Sim will be thin or fat, but cannot create a fit Sim. A Sim created as fat will have the fitness bar start empty, while a Sim created as thin will have the fitness bar start halfway filled.

Fitness has no effect on a Sim other than on his or her body shape. A Sim's body shape is not directly controlled by his or her fitness level, but by flags in his or her character file. These flags normally update when the fitness scale moves into a new range, but they may not do so immediately, Also, it is not unusual for pre-made Sims and townies to have fitness levels that do not match their body shape flags. A Sim's fitness will decrease if they continues to eat after their hunger need is full. A notable exception to this is drinking juice, which does not affect a Sim's fitness. Also, if FreeTime is installed, Sims who have pleasure or grilled cheese as a primary or secondary aspiration have aspiration benefits which affect how quickly they gain or lose fitness. The pleasure benefit "Fast Metabolism" allows a Sim to build fitness 50% faster, while the grilled cheese benefit "Bottomless Stomach" causes a Sim to lose fitness 50% slower.

Sims can increase their fitness in various ways, but not all are equally effective. Most activities that increase body skill will build fitness, but not all do. Sims can increase fitness on community lots, even if they are not gaining body skill. However, their body shape will not change until they go home, unless they are on a college community lot or a secret hobby lot. Children can perform some activities, such as swimming, which build fitness, but if a child reaches the fit level, their body shape may not change until they become a teen. (Some outfits for children have a working fat morph, but not all do.) Sims do not have to perform fitness-increasing activities to maintain fitness, as long as they do not overeat.

Sims may build or lose fitness on community lots. However, only playable Sims can change their body shape. Townies and playable Sims who appear as non-selectable visitors will not change their body shape regardless of how much they work out—or how much they eat. Their fitness will increase, but their body shape will remain the same.

In the base game, Sims can build fitness by working out, swimming, and doing yoga. With Bon Voyage, they can do Tai Chi or engage in log rolling and axe throwing. With FreeTime, they can use the ballet barre, go jogging, or play basketball or soccer.

Fitness and other life states
Servos and PlantSims can eat, even though they have no hunger meter, and do not need to eat. Therefore, anything they eat will decrease their fitness. Servos and bigfoots can become fit or fat, but their bodies will not change.

Other ways to change fitness

 * A witch who has reached level 1 of magic skill can cast neutral spells which can change any Sim's body shape, even a ghost's. The spell "Corpus Athleticus" makes Sims fit, while "Corpus Fleshicus" makes Sims fat.
 * With testingcheatsenabled set to true, shift+clicking a Sim will allow the player to instantly make that Sim fit or fat, but not thin.
 * A Sim's fitness level and body shape flags can be manipulated with SimPE, and can even be used to make Sims fat and fit at the same time. The Sims will be visibly fat, but they may not always be visibly fit. However, the game will eventually reset the correct flag that corresponds to the Sim's fitness level.


 * Notes

The Sims 3
Fitness in The Sims 3 has been enhanced from The Sims 2. The fitness scale was split into two body sliders: a muscle size slider, indicating fitness, and a weight slider, indicating fatness. They are no longer viewable in-game, instead, the only way to tell a Sim's fitness is by their physical body shape. Instead of changing all at once when a certain fitness level is reached, a Sim's body shape changes gradually through working out or overeating.

Fat Sims can become noticeably fatter than in The Sims 2, and as a Sim gains weight his or her face, arms, legs, and torso become fatter, unlike in The Sims 2 where a fat Sim only gains weight in the stomach area. A fat Sim will have a rounder face and double chin.

Changes to a Sim's fitness or fatness level after being born or being created is not permanent, and effort must be put into keeping the change in weight. A Sim who stops overeating or stops exercising to lose weight will gradually return to his or her genetic fatness, even if the Sim does not overeat, and a Sim who stops exercising to increase muscle tone will lose muscle tone gradually and eventually return to his or her genetic fitness.

With the "Fast Metabolism" lifetime reward, Sims gain fitness and lose fatness faster, while they gain fatness slower, much like the pleasure and grilled cheese aspiration benefits combined. With the "Body Sculptor" lifetime reward, Sims can choose to instantly become fitter, thinner, or fatter, though the machine might malfunction.

Sims in Create a Sim have a slider to change their fitness and fatness. The fatness and fitness selected will become the genetic default for the Sim, meaning that Sims created to be overweight will have to continuously work out in order to stay thin, while a Sim created to be thin will have an easier time staying thin and must constantly overeat to stay fat. Unlike The Sims 2, players can create fit Sims in Create a Sim. In Late Night, a new body slider is added: muscle definition. This slider enables the player to change a Sim's muscles. Muscle definition cannot be gained through working out, and is genetic.

The Sims Medieval
Sims can gain and lose weight in a similar manner to The Sims 3.

The Sims 4
Fitness in The Sims 4 functions similar to The Sims 3, with noticeable differences, such as muscle definition not being able to be chosen by the player, instead being directly defined by a Sim's body weight and muscle size, with higher fitness increasing definition, and higher fatness reducing it. Changes in fitness or fatness during gameplay will change the muscle definition.

While fat Sims do not get rounder faces or a double chin, unlike in The Sims 3 where a fat Sim's face becomes rounder than a thin Sim's face, they do get rounder cheeks. A fat Sim's neck becomes larger due to gaining weight.

Unlike in The Sims 3, a Sim who gains or loses weight does not gradually revert to his or her original fatness by merely not overeating or not exercising to lose weight. A Sim who increases in muscle size will gradually revert to his or her original fitness if the Sim does not exercise to stay or increase in fitness.

A new calorie system is introduced in The Sims 4, where each type of food has a different calorie amount. Eating food will increase the calorie count of the Sim, and eating foods with a calorie count without draining these calories by exercise will cause a Sim to increase in fatness over time. Even merely eating when hungry can cause a Sim to gain weight if exercise is not performed. The calorie amount of each kind of food is not based off of the real life counterparts, and in fact some foods such as ambrosia and tiramisu have absolutely no calorie count.

Gaining or losing fitness/fatness only increases the fitness/fatness as would be seen in the matching Create a Sim mode sliders, and does not distort the Sim's body shape as defined by the player or genetics, meaning that Sims with the same fitness and fatness are likely to still have varying body shapes. For example, a Sim created to have a very large stomach area will have a large stomach even while very thin.

With the "High Metabolism" bonus trait from choosing an Athletic aspiration, Sims gain fitness and lose fatness faster, while they gain fatness slower, much like the "Fast Metabolism" lifetime reward from The Sims 3.