In this article: Travel Smart New luggage restrictions Fit Smart Exercise goals Money Smart Cheap dates Eat Smart Eat more Online extra List of 25 Best and Worst foods based on caloric density Contact a columnist

THINK SMART Helpful tips for your everyday life

Pack light or pay extra

U.S. airlines have been cracking down on overweight, oversized and overabundant bags. The penalties aren't new, but they're being vigorously enforced as airlines try to maximize revenue.

The limit: In coach class, most carriers permit you to check two bags, each weighing no more than 50 pounds and each measuring up to 62 linear inches (linear inches = height + width + length). If you exceed those limits, you'll be paying.

How fees are set up: Major airlines, such as Delta, charge $25 for each bag weighing 51 to 70 pounds and $100 for each bag weighing 71 to 100 pounds. If a bag exceeds 62 inches, then Delta charges $100. If a bag is overweight and oversized, then you'll be charged fees for both infractions. And if you exceed your two-bag limit, Delta charges another $50.

Bottom line: Travel light and check your airline's restrictions before you go.

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Which exercise do you start with? It depends

Many people try to fit cardio activity and resistance training into the same workout. That's great, but in what order should you perform them? It depends on your goal.

"What's most important to you as far as performance should be done first," says Henry Williford, director of the Human Performance Lab at Auburn University Montgomery. His tips:

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Great cheap dates

When we were dating, my husband always would bring along a list of fun things for us to do, and I'd pick one. Preparation, he now says, is the key to successful dating. The editors of online men's magazine SharpMan.com agree, judging by their recent book "102 Great Dates for Any Budget "(Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $14.95). They list four keys (FACTs) to great dates: good Food, a fun Activity, lively Conversation and some Thought.

Flinging around money is not what successful dating is about, say the editors. Most basic scenarios are modestly priced at $30 or less, although splurging for the "Big Spender" date could run $50-plus. Among their ideas for memorable cheap dates:

Photo Safari: Buy disposable cameras, snap some pictures around town, drop off the film at a one-hour photo shop and then check out your "exhibition" over coffee and dessert.

Travel Afar: Rent a foreign movie and get takeout to match.

Bull's Eye: Take an archery lesson. Check local parks and recreation facilities or colleges for instructors.

Draw your luck: Write three possible dates on pieces of paper and have your date pick one. After eight years of marriage, my husband and I still do that, and it's always a winner.

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Hot new diet: Eat more

Feeling hungry dooms diets, says Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University and author of "The Volumetrics Eating Plan." Her solution: Fill up on big portions of low-calorie foods.

"We were surprised to discover that the weight of food consumed is what turns off the urge to eat and creates a feeling of satiety, or fullness," Rolls says. Researchers once thought the number of calories consumed triggered satiety.

Generally, a person eats about the same quantity of food daily, she says. Simply eating foods that weigh more but are low in calories -- "low caloric density" -- staves off hunger.

Best bets: food high in water content, because water has zero calories but weighs a lot. (A fat gram has 9 calories; a gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories.)

Rolls has found that water-bulked foods help block appetite and calorie intake.

In one test, people who ate 3 cups of a low-calorie garden salad (vegetables have lots of water) before a pasta main course ate 100 fewer calories than a salad-free meal. The salad filled them up, so they ate less, Rolls says.

And in a year-long study of 200 overweight men and women, those who ate two bowls of soup daily lost 50% more weight than those who ate the same number of calories in two calorie-dense snacks daily.

Jean Carper, now heard weekly on HealthRadioNetwork.com, can be contacted at stopagingnow.com. Scientific sources for this article are at usaweekend.com.