Four Ways to Beat Summer Weight Gain

When we think of the summer holiday，most of us think of outdoor fun. So it seems like we should naturally lose weight over the summer holiday. In reality，the summer holiday isn’t all beach volleyball and water sports. Therefore，we can gain weight easily in the summer holiday.【小题1】 Here are four ways to beat summer weight gain.

1.【小题2】 When we don’t have a plan，it’s easy to spend the summer holiday moving from the couch to the computer，with regular stops before the fridge. Avoid this by aiming for a specific goal，like volunteering，mastering a new skill，or working at a job. Just be sure to plan for some free time so you can relax a little！

2. Stay busy. When we’re bored，it’s easy to fall into a trap of doing nothing and then feeling low on energy. In addition to helping you avoid the cookie jar， filling your days with stuff to do can give you a sense of accomplishment.【小题3】

3. Beat the heat. Don’t let summer heat put your exercise plans on hold.【小题4】 If a gym isn’t your scene， try bowling or an indoor climbing wall. If you love being outdoors， move a regular run or soccer game to early morning or evening.

4.【小题5】 With school out， we lose our daily routines. If you don’t have a specific job or an activity to get up for，it’s easy to sleep late， watch too much TV，and snack more than usual. Make sure your summer days have some structure—like getting up at the same time each day. Plan activities for specific times，like exercising before breakfast.

   Most people use the weekends to relax. 【小题1】 Because you’re on duty, you have to focus on your work seven days a week.

While you don’t have to be at your desk every minute of every day, weekends make you free to create your lifestyle so that you can get the most out of your busy schedule. Here are a few ways to make you more efficient both at work and in life during the weekends.

Don’t work 24/7. Though it’s important to think about your business on the weekend, you shouldn’t be working in the way you are during the week. 【小题2】 Instead, work on projects you enjoy or use the time to think about your business in a broader way. Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish this week, month or year?” Judge how your day-to-day activities are taking you closer to your long-term goals.

Check your e-mail once or twice a day. 【小题3】 Read all your messages, arrange activities, and then put your phone away. If you know you will be checking e-mail at a specific（特定的）time, you’ll be less likely to check it throughout the day.

【小题4】 You could go somewhere quiet to relax, or spend time with friends and family members. Since all your previous five days have been spent on your work, you deserve your own time to relax, and to strengthen your relationship with others. However, make sure you’re prepared to start your work on Monday while enjoying yourself. Don’t oversleep. Though some people enjoy sleeping until noon on the weekend, it’s not beneficial to your health. 【小题5】 So try not to sleep more than two or three extra hours on the weekend.

   Nowadays it is necessary to be reasonable and flexible enough to avoid conflicts as much as possible and live in peace with others. 【小题1】 If you have done all your best to avoid conflicts but you are still arguing, then read these effective tips on how to avoid conflicts.

1. Don’t get in the center of the conflict.

Sometimes people can get in the center of conflicts because they want to help. Frankly speaking, it is very risky, because it can make you the main figure of the conflict. 【小题2】 You should focus on your own life issues.

2. Be kind.

【小题3】 Life is full of conflicts and disagreements, and that’s why you should find more conservative ways of dealing with them. For example, kindness can lessen the conflict.

3. Try to be a peacekeeper.

Peacekeepers tend to cooperate with people without bad emotions which usually lead to arguments and even conflicts. “【小题4】” This saying is the life motto of a natural born peacekeeper. Don’t worry if you are not a natural born peacekeeper. You can gain this skill during life.

4. Walk off.

When the conflict is gathering pace and you can’t manage to keep yourself, you should choose to handle the situation in another way. By all means, try to keep yourself away from stress. 【小题5】 You should get away from the situation for a while.

   If you're the kind of person who loves travel but finds it difficult to break down language barriers，you may want to check out ICONSPEAK，a T-shirt covered in basic pictographs（图画文字）ranging from clocks to bathrooms. Simply point to the symbol associated with your need，and hopefully，the person you're talking to will understand you soon. I can tell you that it's better than having to make gestures to strangers.

ICONSPEAK is the brainchild of friends George and Florian. They were traveling through Asia in 2013 and found themselves in a remote（偏远的）village with no vehicle，no tourism，and just some locals. The problems they had while trying to express their needs to the locals inspired them to start working on a simple yet effective solution to the language gap. Two years later，they came up with the ICONSPEAK T-shirt.“In the furthest and deepest corners of our world we were repeatedly left with no words，either in breathtaking awe（赞叹）due to the scenery or in empty silence due to our lacking linguistic talents，”its website states.“Such situations got us thinking about how to bridge language barriers with simplicity on a global level. The answer came to us after a remarkable experience in Vietnam: ICONs. Because with ICONs, you can SPEAK, and you can SPEAK to the world.”

The ICONSPEAK collection consists of three types of T-shirts — long, short, sleeveless — as well as large bags and hats that feature fewer icons. The products are available internationally through the website, with the founders attesting that they work anywhere in the world.“I have used it in Norway,”said George.“It works beautifully — the people you ask are surprisingly quick in getting what you want or mean since they are anyway thinking in a certain context. If you point to the bus and the clock on the shirt and you do this at a bus stop, anybody will know that you want to know when the next bus leaves.”

ICONSPEAK is a clear example that the answer to complex problems can be very simple. I have yet to try the shirt, but somehow I have no doubt that it actually works. It might not always help, but for common problems, like finding a telephone, the nearest hotel or an ATM, ICONSPEAK seems like a good solution.