There are multiple traits you can get in Project Zomboid that offer you positives and negatives during your zombie campaign. For those who want to start with a negative trait, one of the better ones to choose is Out of Shape.
Unlike many other traits you can give yourself to start in Project Zomboid, the Out of Shape trait can actually go away. You have to work at it, though. If you’re unwilling to work, the Out of Shape trait is here to stay, and you’ll have to deal with the added consequences of struggling to outrun the zombies—making it harder to fight them.
How to get rid of Out of Shape trait in Project Zomboid
The only way to remove the Out of Shape trait in Project Zomboid is to work on multiple exercises and increase your character’s Fitness skills. An optimal way to improve your character’s Fitness skills is to have them consistently working on and raising their Exercise Regularity, or you can do it naturally by having them run or fight zombies. Constantly sprinting everywhere and hitting zombies takes more time, though.
Eventually, as you increase your Fitness skill and it goes above the negative two points you get for assigning it during the Project Zomboid character creation, the trait disappears. Not many other traits do this in Project Zomboid, making it a preferred starting skill on any campaign.
When you give yourself the Out of Shape trait, it rewards you with six valuable points you can use to add other more positive traits when you start. Because of how effectively you can remove the Out of Shape trait, it’s one of the most preferred negative traits someone can pick in Project Zomboid; it goes away eventually.
The larger downside to it is you might struggle to fight zombies in the beginning or run away from them. You must find a base faster than other players, focus on defenses, and exercise to eliminate it. Tracking down multiple skill books and preparing them to work on crafting projects is a great way to offset the time they need to recover from a workout. For example, grinding experience points for the Electrical skill is a good way for a Project Zomboid character to continue working on other skills while recovering.
