TAMARA HADDAD RETURNS

In this week's episode, Celeste Rains-Turk reintroduces Tamara
Haddad, a previous guest from the beginning of her podcast who
has since retired from the IFBB division. While she may be
retired from competing, Tamara is still well-known for her
excellent posing coaching and active in supporting other
competitors. 

To Begin, Tamara opens up to Celeste about her last show, the
Arnold Classic Australia, in 2017.  She admits to post-show
months of rebounding, feeling depressed, and unmotivated. Tamara
explains how her biggest struggle was learning how to balance
fitness as a lifestyle instead of a competition.

She states it took approximately 9 months to get back into shape
and how the slow and steady approach gave her the lifestyle shape
she always dreamed of having. Tamara is thankful to have had the
chance to compete at The Arnold and Olympia and uses her
experiences to coach other competitors to these elite
stages. 
​
Tamara explains how the hardest part about overcoming
post-competing blues is the mental changes and lifestyle
adaptations.

Tamara tells Celeste how she used to believe you couldn’t take
rest days, and now realizes that taking rest days allows for
muscles to heal, bones to repair, and mind recovery. Tamara no
longer has food guilt and chooses to eat three fuller meals
instead of five portion-controlled meals. 

Tamara and Celeste discuss the heavy and often disregarded topic
of addiction in the bodybuilding sport. Tamara admits she was
addicted to competing, Adderall, Xanax, and sex which reared its
ugly head after retiring.

Tamara decided to cleanse her body, mind, and soul and admits to
having a predisposition to extreme addictive characteristics. She
started her recovery by doing a 90-day commitment, sun healing,
and focusing on spiritual growth.

​While Tamara was afraid of her true self without the title of
IFBB pro champion, she worked with God to release those stigmas.
Tamara happily expresses she is now three months clean of
prescription substances!

Celeste and Tamara open up about the breakup from her fiancé and
how she was struggled with intimacy with partners since. In
addition to healing herself, she admits to Celeste how she
avoided masturbation to build up her “spiritual soul” She states
since her 90 day commitment cleanse, she is now able to have a
sexual relationship with a partner and raise her
vibrations/energy. 

Tamara states how online competitions is “the future of
bodybuilding”. She praises the division for transforming to an
online stage and is pleasantly surprised how successful the first
one was in July. In the future, she is hoping the Top 10 gets
more prize money to help boost audience participation and
reimburse competitors for their hard work. 

Finally, Tamara gives viewers advice to competitors who feel
addicted to the identity of the sport. Tamara’s honesty and open
conversations provide an episode you do not want to miss!

Connect with Tamara Here:
www.instagram.com/tamarahaddad7/

Connect with Celeste Here:
www.instagram.com/celestial_fit/

TIME STAMPS:
[3:24] Life and Goals after retiring from the IFBB division
[8:52] Learning to step away from the extremes of competing
[16:56] Tamara’s spirituality, addiction to prescription drugs,
and healing. 
[23:24] Staying abstinent/avoiding masturbation/raising your
vibrations
[35:21] Tamara discusses her opinion on online competitions
[46:56 ] Advice to competitors who feel addicted to the sport