The first time I was introduced to the concept of dieting was in the seventh grade. A girl who sat across from me at lunch pulled a Slim Fast meal-replacement shake out of her lunchbox. She then proceeded to unpack a sandwich, chips, an apple, crackers and cookies from her lunchbox.

Naturally as the type of middle schooler who still had a school lunch calendar stuck to her fridge, I asked what the foreign liquid in the weirdly shaped bottle was. She immediately acquired a highly condescending tone and explained to me that it was a diet shake that would help her lose weight for cheerleading tryouts.

I guess she was unaware that Slim Fast shakes are meant to be consumed in lieu of meals, rather than as supplements to them.

It’s been seven years since my ignorance to diet products made me the laughing stock of the lunchroom table, but I’m just as clueless to the world of dieting now as I was before. And I would venture to say that the girl who thought drinking a Slim Fast shake with her pack of Oreos was a good idea is equally off-base.

After four years in high school and a couple more in college, I’ve witnessed a good number of girls try outrageous diet plans designed to help them lose the maximum amount of weight in the minimum amount of time. The cabbage soup diet, in which participants are allowed to consume only cabbage soup in addition to a couple of food items each day for a week, is particularly popular once spring break rolls around each year.

The problem with the cabbage soup diet, and those like it, is that they aren’t conducive to regular eating habits, much less an everyday lifestyle. Unless the dieter possesses Christ-like restraint, they’re eventually going to break down and inhale an entire taco 12-pack midway through the week.

The same goes for the Jenny Craig or Slim Fast diet, where participants are expected to consume only prepackaged meals or meal-replacement supplements in order to lose weight.

Undoubtedly, there are success stories of people who have stuck to these strict diets, lost weight and kept it off. However, for the vast majority of college students who are surrounded by unhealthy food options, fad diets result largely in failure and disappointment.

It’s time we get over the naivety of thinking a magic pill will instantly solve our weight issues. It’s time we embrace healthy eating habits that will last longer than just a couple weeks.

And it’s time we get smart about dieting before we end up like Regina George, munching away on our Kalteen bars while everyone else gets a good laugh.