Mariah Carey flaunts her toned abs on the cover of Shape‘s May issue – on newsstands April 23.

Here’s what the 42-old mom of 11-month-old twins Moroccan and Monroe had to share about pregnancy, how she dropped 30 pounds in three months and her exercise regimen.

On her pregnancy: “Pregnancy was probably the best and the hardest thing I’ll ever go through. I know for a lot of women, it can be wonderful and relatively easy. But for me, it was like ‘Okay, honey, do you have to do everything the hard way?’

On losing weight with Jenny Craig’s eating plan: “I used to be able to slim down just by exercising more, but that’s changed. Since having the babies, I realize that 90 percent of losing weight is my diet.”

On her exercise regimen: “Today my workout routine is more about getting and staying toned. And for me, that means either taking hour-long walks a few times a week or jumping in the pool three or four days a week to do 45 minutes of aquatic exercises.”

Visit SHAPE to read more about Mariah’s weight loss journey.