It's been seven years since Carnie Wilson's public gastric bypass surgery. After losing over 150 pounds, the singer put some pounds back on, but for a good reason: pregnancy. On April 22, 2005, Wilson and her husband, guitarist Rob Bonfiglio, welcomed their daughter, Lola Sophia.

Pregnancy was a positive time in Wilson's life. "I loved it!" she says. "I had an incredible pregnancy. It was the first time I had stopped working. So I took the time to enjoy it and it was very happy and positive. We took a lot of drives and I spent a lot of time outside breathing fresh air and stretching and taking the time to just talk to Lola and listen to music and sing to her. It was great. I physically felt amazing. I didn't have one sick day. It was incredible."

Wilson did gain a lot of weight. "I gained 70 pounds," she says. "But it was an amazing, amazing time. I was healthy, I was eating healthy, but then I started eating too much bread. And I stopped exercising because I was having really bad pelvic pain. I probably would have kept off 20 of those pounds had I been exercising."

At one point, Wilson decided to just enjoy being pregnant, and not worry about what the world thought about her. "Because [if] my body's craving a piece of bread, I'm going to eat it," she says.

Wilson started baking and cooking for people – and took knitting classes. "I had regular knitting classes and I had a great time," she says. "I spent time with other pregnant women. I watched movies. I relaxed."

Wilson had a C-section delivery. "It was not easy," she says. "It was really, really difficult. It hurt. The epidural hurt, the incision hurt after. It was my fourth abdominal surgery in six years and it was the hardest one. I'm clean and sober, so I was really hesitant to take pain medication, so I was in extra pain after she was born. It was a big challenge for me to breastfeed her when I had pain from the incision there." Wilson breastfed for six months, and then did a combination of breastfeeding and formula.

The time in the hospital, however, was a magic time for Wilson. "It was amazing," she says. "We had so many people there. Practically the whole family came. My dad was completely beside himself, and my mom was too. I stayed in the hospital for three days and I had a big room. We taped everything. We videotaped the whole thing."

Postpartum depression was another obstacle Wilson had to overcome. "I had really bad postpartum [depression] for about four months," she says. "When my milk came in I was extremely emotional. I just kept crying and crying and crying. Had a lot of weird postpartum thoughts, just real scary stuff that I was open about. I was just trying to just accept that's what happens. I didn't anticipate it. I didn't think, oh it's going to happen or oh, it's not. I just let it. And when I did have weird thoughts and weird feelings, I just said this is not real; it's in my head; it's hormones. I would breastfeed her and then would have contractions in my uterus and then I'd sob and cry and I just let my feelings go. I said, OK, this is just what Mother Nature is doing to me."

Wilson says though it was hard, it eventually did go away, and she did not take any medication for it. "I'm not against anybody that would; I just encourage women to know that they are not by themselves, they are not crazy and they just need to know that it will go away," she says.

Almost at her pre-pregnancy weight, Wilson says it was the hardest thing she's ever done. "Forty pounds came off really fast; [within] 2 1/2 weeks 40 pounds came right off," she says. "I was very, very bloated. I had a lot of fluid."

When Lola was 3 months old, Wilson hired a trainer and built a gym in her home. She started doing cardio and circuit training, and also watched her carbohydrate intake. "It seemed like my pattern was one week I was good, one week bad, one week good," she says. "Not bad, but I would lose, then maintain, then I'd gain a pound. It took me so long to lose 15 pounds, and then I just lost 10 more."

Next, Wilson did The Zone diet, and joined Celebrity Fit Club, which will air on VH1 in July. "I dropped 10 pounds the first week," she says. "So I'm like woo-hoo!"

What advice would Wilson give moms struggling to get back to their pre-pregnancy weight? "Just know that it takes time," she says. "If they feel like they're under the microscope and people are watching them, they should try to be in my shoes. It was absolutely torture. And for me, what I did is I just ignored what everybody was thinking: You're losing it too slowly or whatever. I thought, this is between me and my body, and you have to do it for yourself. And you don't have to rush it; it will come off."

Wilson says though losing the weight is hard, you have to be dedicated and structured – and you have to get those meals in. "That's why everything is balance after a baby," she says. "Because baby comes first. But you have to keep up your health, and you have to keep it up because you have to be healthy for your baby, for you to be the best mom. But then again, having a baby is not being selfish; you become unselfish, so it's really like a contradiction. It's really strange, but it's all about balance."

And meal planning is key, she says. "Try to cook for three days at a time and freeze your food or have it ready for you," she says. "If you can afford to do something like The Zone, do that. It's only temporary. Hopefully you didn't gain more than 30, 40 pounds. It will come off; just know you don't have to do it in a month."

Wilson tries to eat healthy every day. "I try to eat protein first, keep carbs to a minimum, snack on protein or some fruit," she says. "Try not to drink soda. Try to drink a ton of water. And try to walk. Take the baby on walks."

Walking is Wilson's favorite exercise. "Get that stroller out, get that baby in the stroller, talk to the baby," she says. "If you're the busy type, maybe the baby will sleep and you can make your phones calls when you're walking. Walk fast. Burn calories. Get your workout in."

Does Wilson want another baby? "Yes, we would love to," she says. "I would love to give Lola a sibling." So stay tuned!

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