When it comes to Ciara's weight loss journey, she's not sweating the number on the scale.
In fact, five months after welcoming Amora Princess Wilson with husband Russell Wilson, the "Level Up" singer opened up about how she's embracing her postpartum body while still working towards her fitness goals.
"Sometimes, you want to make things picture-perfect and life doesn't allow you to do that," Ciara told E! News in an exclusive interview. "This is real s--t. There's no perfectness to motherhood. For example, I had a scale drop and now the scale went back up. I was like, uhhh."
But instead of freaking out, she's taking it one (two) step at a time.
"I'm going to give myself grace," the 38-year-old continued, "and eat a couple of potatoes and ice cream because I need that for my mind. That's where I am with it—and it's OK."
Plus, Russell has been cheering her on throughout the process. "There's a weight I want to get to, but my husband is telling me, 'You don't need to go that far,'" Ciara revealed. "He's embracing my curves; he likes my thicky era."
The "Goodies" singer—who shares Sienna Princess, 6, and Win Harrison, 3 with Russell, and is also a mom to son Future Zahir, 9, with ex Future—isn't just hoping to lose the baby weight either. She's also navigating other aspects of postpartum.
"Hormones fly all over the f--king place," she expressed, "I feel like I'm more emotional than I've ever been out of all my babies. I'm like, 'What is going on with me?!' I feel like I haven't been able to breathe since I gave birth."
But it's in those challenging moments that she meditates on what she's grateful for.
"I have to remind myself to give myself grace and that it's not going to be perfect," she explained. "This is a beautiful time, even when it feels not-so-beautiful. It's a gift to create new life and I'm doing my best reminding myself of that."
As for why Ciara doesn't shy away from sharing the highs and lows of parenting? She wants to help others.
"I know there's so many women like me," she noted. "I'm so glad I'm in a space where I feel comfortable to share my journey."
Being fully transparent about the tougher postpartum experiences has even influenced her work with Baby2Baby. In fact, she helped the organization launch the expansion of its Maternal Health & Newborn Supply Kit program (which was made possible with Huggies and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
As she put it, "It's been a blessing to be apart of the Baby2Baby family and be part of moments like this."
And if there's one piece of advice the musician can pass down to new moms, especially as they celebrate their first Mother's Day, is to not stress the mess.
"There's no perfect structure to motherhood," she said. "The perfectness comes with you being you, putting your best foot forward and loving as best as you can. Your kid will feel that love."
She added, "You have your own chance to figure out how you want to do things. Don't let anyone else tell you how you should be doing things."