REVOLUTIONIZING THE RIDE:
DR. RACHEL MILLNER’S MISSION TO REDEFINE FITNESS AND HEALING
Pride isn’t just something we celebrate in June; it’s a year-round commitment to visibility, inclusivity, and self-love. That’s why it’s essential to uplift voices that champion diversity and body positivity across lifestyle, fitness, and fashion. Dr. Rachel Millner, a clinical psychologist with 20 years of experience and founder of Rachel Millner Therapy in Philadelphia, is one of those voices leading the charge. A passionate advocate for size-inclusive fitness, she works diligently to break down barriers and promote acceptance for all body types. Having personally navigated the challenges of disordered eating, Dr. Millner deeply understands the toll societal pressures can take on mental health and self-worth. Through her healing journey and unwavering dedication to body positivity, she empowers individuals to rediscover the joy of movement, embrace their bodies, and build community—with pride.
For Dr. Rachel Millner, healing wasn't just about recovery, it was about reclamation. As a renowned clinical psychologist, body positive activist, and Body Trust® specialist, Dr. Millner has spent the past two decades helping others untangle from the grip of diet culture and disordered eating. But her life’s work is more than just a career, it’s deeply personal.
Raised in a household where thinness was celebrated above all else, Rachel’s earliest experiences with her body were shaped by a relentless pressure to lose weight. Even her love of sports was reduced to a calorie-burning opportunity. These early messages laid the foundation for a struggle with anorexia and binge eating disorder that carried into adulthood, leading to extreme exercise routines and a dangerously emaciated body.
Her turning point was two-fold. “I realized that I was going to die from anorexia and, even though I didn’t care at that time, I didn’t want to hurt my family and friends that way,” she shares candidly. “The other was that I wanted children and I knew I couldn’t bring them into the world while I was still so unwell. I didn’t want to pass these toxic messages down to them.”
Rachel’s journey to recovery demanded a complete reevaluation of her relationship with movement. She took several years off from exercise entirely, eventually rebuilding a connection to movement that centered joy and autonomy rather than weight loss. When the pandemic hit, she bought a Peloton, not expecting much, but what she found was an empowering path back to fitness on her own terms.
But something was missing. The instructors didn’t reflect all bodies. And that mattered.
So, in true trailblazer fashion, Rachel decided to become what she didn’t see. Today, she’s not only a Peloton devotee, she’s also on a mission to change the fitness industry from the inside out. Her video series, REVOLUTIONIZE Your RIDE: CHANGING THE FACE OF FITNESS WITH DR. RACHEL, is creating an inclusive virtual space where people of all sizes are encouraged to show up fully, authentically, and unapologetically.
“Rides that I teach will be all about taking up space in the unique ways that each of us takes up space in the world, both physically and emotionally,” she says. “Every single one of us is needed in this world, and we all need to support one another.”
Her influence reaches far beyond the bike. A sought-after speaker and published author, Rachel has been featured in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Monitor on Psychology, and Experience Life, among many others. She’s also a familiar voice on popular podcasts such as Food Psych, Diet Culture Rebel, and Fat Joy, and has spoken at prestigious conferences including the International Conference on Eating Disorders and the Multi-Service Eating Disorder Association Conference.
A proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and a single mom by choice, Rachel is raising 12-year-old twins who keep her life joyfully chaotic, especially since they play on four different soccer teams. When she’s not advocating for size-inclusive fitness or transforming therapy spaces, she’s cheering for the Philadelphia Eagles, belting out Broadway tunes, or laughing at the antics of her two beloved dogs.
Through her work, Dr. Rachel Millner is challenging outdated ideals, offering healing through empowerment, and showing the world that fitness, joy, and worthiness aren’t size-specific, they’re human birthrights.
QSM: Dr. Rachel, as a psychologist with 20 years of experience, how has your understanding of mental health evolved, particularly within the LGBTQ community?
Dr. Rachel: I was trained in a traditional graduate school setting that saw mental health, or mental illness, as something that impacted individuals and that it was up to the individual to "solve" or address their mental health issues. It was very much based in a pathologizing view of mental illness and very focused on the concept of "self care" or other individual behaviors as how people can improve their mental health. I have evolved from that framework and now understand mental health (and mental illness) in a larger cultural context and no longer as an individual responsibility or in a pathologizing way. I think that struggling with mental health, particularly in a culture that stigmatizes people and doesn't support well-being makes sense and that when we focus solely on the individual, we aren't getting to the root of the problem. I think that even if all of our cultural issues and systems of oppression were gone, there would still be people who struggled with mental health because for some people it's biological or there would still be trauma, but the support we could give to those people would be much more effective and less pathologizing because we wouldn't be placing blame or expecting anyone to "self-care" their way out of mental illness. This shift in understanding of mental health is particularly important for the LGBTQ community given the amount of stigma and oppression, and sadly current increased oppression and marginalization. The dominant mental health paradigm wants us to blame LGBTQ people if they are struggling with mental health instead of naming that of course someone in the LGBTQ community might be struggling with mental health in our current culture.
QSM: Can you share your journey of becoming a body positive activist and the significance of this work in promoting self-acceptance, especially during Pride month?
Dr. Rachel: Like so many of us, I grew up in a household and culture, that saw certain bodies as "wrong" or deviant and held up other bodies as the "ideal." If we buy into this we not only end up spending a lifetime trying to change our own bodies, we miss out on accepting all of the diverse bodies around us. There isn't a way to heal from body image concerns or eating disorders while also pathologizing bodies or believing that there is something wrong with our body. It doesn't mean we have to love our bodies every second. That would be near impossible in this culture, but being able to accept our bodies or trust our bodies or to feel neutral about our bodies allows so much more room for healing and for feeling more at home in our bodies. During Pride month, it is an opportunity for the LGBTQ community to show up in our bodies exactly as we are and express our identities in whatever ways work for us. This obviously should be the case all year, but for many people the only chance they get to show up freely as themselves is during Pride events. There is still a lot of stigma around body size in the LGBTQ community and Pride month is an important time for all of us to challenge the stigma and address our internalized weight stigma and create spaces where all bodies are truly welcome.
QSM: What inspired you to focus on size-inclusive fitness, and how do you believe it contributes to the overall well-being of your clients?
Dr. Rachel: Fitness is complicated for people for many reasons. We live in a culture that tells us we "should" be doing movement or exercise and then tells us that the main reason we should be doing it is to burn calories and lose weight. There are benefits of movement such as improved mood, stress management, improved cardiovascular function, etc., but if the focus of movement is on punishing ourselves or trying to shrink our bodies, then we lose out on those benefits and movement becomes toxic. I want people to have the choice to move their bodies if they want to, but I don't want there to be any obligation or moral judgment for people who might choose not to engage in movement. But for the people who do choose to engage, there needs to be spaces where they feel welcome and where our bodies aren't seen as a "before picture." I have a lot of clients in larger bodies who want to do movement, but don't have any safe spaces to engage in movement due to the likeliness of encountering weight stigma. Or they might want to take classes online and only see thin instructors which then sends the message that only thin bodies are welcome. Representation is so important and I know many people in larger bodies who would want to engage in movement if there were more size inclusive fitness spaces and if there was more body size diversity in those spaces.
QSM: In your experience, what unique challenges do members of the LGBTQ community face regarding body image and eating disorders?
Dr. Rachel: This is an important question and one that could be the topic of an entire interview in and of itself. So, we know that the trans community has higher rates of eating disorders than the cisgender community, but trans people are less likely to access treatment. This is because treatment is often not trans affirming or is financially prohibitive. It is hard to summarize why trans people have higher rates of eating disorders in just a sentence or two, but essentially if we think about the ways that body size and/or shape and our ideas about gender and gender identity are connected, it makes sense that there are ways of trying to change body size or shape that then feels more gender euphoric. The thing is that trying to change body size and/or shape puts people at a higher rate of an eating disorder. We also know that there is a connection between trauma and eating disorders and many trans people have experienced trauma. So there's a lot of nuance and complexity to this and, as a whole, the mental health and eating disorder fields are not doing a great job of providing treatment that is trans affirming and holds all of the nuance needed. In terms of the LGBTQ community as a whole, there are a variety of potential challenges. Within the gay male community there is a lot of focus on body size and muscularity, and again, there is the connection between trauma and eating disorders or body image concerns and many members of the LGBTQ community have experienced trauma. I also think it's important to name that experiencing homophobia or transphobia are traumatic in and of themselves. So, for many LGBTQ people the culture itself is the cause of trauma.
QSM: As a Body Trust® specialist, what are some key principles you advocate for to promote inclusive care in mental health and wellness?
Dr. Rachel: I advocate for all bodies to be treated with respect and for weight loss to not ever be recommended as an "intervention." I name all of the ways diet culture harms us and impacts our mental health and wellbeing. I talk about how the lack of accessibility for people in larger bodies impacts mental health and how important it is that we shift the way that the world is set up so that it is built for higher weight people too. I generally talk about how systems of oppression negatively impact mental health and wellness. I recognize that experiencing weight stigma is traumatic in and of itself. Healthcare that isn't inclusive isn't really healthcare. So much of what we've been taught about bodies, mental health and wellness is incorrect and it's so important for us to unlearn toxic messages. And I remind people that it's not their fault. Whatever ways they cope with stress or trauma have been wise and an attempt to keep themselves going. There might be ways of coping that aren't needed anymore or have other negative consequences, but that we are all doing the best we can and we cope in the ways that we are able to at any given time.
QSM: Can you discuss how breaking down barriers to access and care can significantly impact individuals within the LGBTQ community?
Dr. Rachel: When people have access to affirming care they are able to get so many of their needs met. For so long, the LGBTQ community has not had access to affirming care and things are harder right now, not easier. It's sad that we have to consider if a provider will be safe for us before seeing them, but it is the reality right now. If members of the LGBTQ community have providers they know will be affirming and are accessible it benefits our mental health as well as physical health because we will go and see providers. That means any mental or physical health issues we may be experiencing will be diagnosed and treated sooner and be less likely to progress.
QSM: How has your Peloton fitness journey helped you in your personal and professional life, and what advice do you have for others seeking to find joy in movement?
Dr. Rachel: It has been so helpful in a variety of ways. In my personal life, movement has been challenging for me due to my eating disorder history. Movement was very much a part of my eating disorder so when I was working on healing from my eating disorder, I also had to heal my relationship with movement. For me, that meant taking time away from movement. I needed space to disentangle movement from my eating disorder. When I was ready to come back to movement, I needed to find something I enjoyed and that I hadn't done during my eating disorder. That's when I found Peloton and discovered how much I love it. I love the classes and instructors and also felt frustrated by the lack of size diversity amongst the instructors, which is what lead me to on this journey to try and get hired as an instructor. Professionally, I think it has been helpful for not only my clients, but those who follow me on social media in general, to see someone in a plus size body who isn't apologizing for their size or trying to shrink their body and who is being visible and putting themselves out there to be seen. For people trying to find joy in movement, one of the first things I think about is also having permission not to do movement, If movement feels like an obligation or something that you feel guilty about if you don't do it, there really isn't a way to feel joy in in. One you have permission to not do movement or to rest, then there's an opportunity to start experimenting with what types of movement you enjoy. Try to find places to do movement that are accessible and not rooted in diet culture. There are more trainers now who are fat affirming and don't focus on weight loss and I am starting to see more gyms that are promoting themselves as size inclusive and not focused on weight loss.
QSM: How did you celebrate Pride month personally and professionally, and why do you believe it is essential for visibility and acceptance?
Dr. Rachel: A lot of my clients are members of the LGBTQ+ community so during Pride month we talk about all of the various Pride events they are going to and how it is feeling for them to be around community. If they don't have access to community, we talk about that as well. Pride month is great because there are so many opportunities to be with queer community, but of course we talk about these things all year round. Personally, I often go to Pride events and my kids usually come with me. They have marched in Pride parades with me. I think about all of the queer kids who are seeing so much judgment and hatred in the news and on social media and think that there's something wrong with them and may even be thinking about harming themselves and how powerful visibility is in countering that. Sometimes all kids need is that one adult who is out and accepting of them and shows them that they can live a full life being authentic and not hiding who they are.
QSM: In what ways do you integrate fashion and self-expression into your body positivity message, encouraging clients to embrace their unique identities?
Dr. Rachel: These things are so fun to explore when you're not coming from a place of self hatred or trying to lose weight or wear things to try and look smaller. I love finding fashion that I like and wearing what I want and it is so freeing to do that now. When you're in a place of trying to shrink then all decisions about fashion or self expression are impacted by that. It can be hard to discern between what you actually like and what you were taught you are "supposed" to like.
QSM: Looking ahead, what changes do you hope to see in the mental health field concerning support for LGBTQ individuals, and what advice can you give for allies hoping to contribute to this progress?
Dr. Rachel: The mental health field needs to do a better job advocating on behalf of the LGBTQ communities and making treatment accessible and affirming. We need to make sure that we are talking about the harm of oppression and we have an ethical obligation to not contribute to the oppression or marginalization of any group of people. I hope the field will move away from pathologizing people and shift the way mental health is viewed. We absolutely need allies in order for progress to happen. It is often easier for allies to speak up and advocate on our behalf because they aren't being directly harmed by homophobia or transphobia. I think for allies, if you witness homophobia or trans phobia please speak up. It lets your queer friends know you have our back. Allies can also do a great job educating providers when they see things that are problematic in their offices (i.e. paperwork that only includes two genders, makes assumptions about family structure, etc.)
QSM: Lastly, where can we find you? All social media handles, websites etc.
Dr. Rachel: I'm on instagram @plussizepelotonride and @drrachelmillner My psychology practice website is http://www.rachelmillnertherapy.com and I'm on facebook also as plus size peloton ride and as Rachel Millner, Psy.D.
Follow and Connect with Dr. Rachel Millner:
📷 Instagram: @drrachelmillner | @plussizepelotonride
📘 Facebook: Rachel Millner Therapy
📧 Email: rachel@rachelmillnertherapy.com
🗞 Press Inquiries: Emma Medeiros – emma@medeirosfashionpr.com
