Rachel Millner, Psy.D.

Rachel Millner, Psy.D. Dr. Millner is a licensed psychologist and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist who works with people struggling with food and body issues.

05/02/2026

The majority of fat people I know have shame about sweating. And especially being sweaty when other people around them aren’t or sweating more than the people around them.
Yesterday I chaperoned my son’s field trip to NY. We went into and I was standing there hot and sweaty while the kids wondered around the store.
I noticed one of the sales people looking at me and smiled and a few minutes later he brought over this tote bag and then some paper towels.
I was so appreciative. And it made me think about how often as fat people we assume someone is judging us or thinking something negative about us.
The thing is I have no idea what this salesperson was thinking. And it is so often the case that we decide someone must be judging when we actually have no idea what they are thinking.
What I do know is that this salesperson took the time to give me a free tote bag and some paper towels. I choose to believe he did this out of kindness.
And I received it with gratitude. It made my day to get a free tote bag and some paper towels to wipe my face with.
Instead of carrying shame about being fat and sweaty, I’m carrying my new tote bag and offering the reminder that sweating is nothing to be ashamed of and a lot of what we assume people are thinking about us is a projection.
If you’re a soccer fan and are in NY, check out the store. It got a thumbs up from the kids I was with and there’s some really nice sales people there. ⚽️⚽️

Image description: there are 8 slides. Each has a beige background with outlines of flowers and text that says:It’s hard...
04/28/2026

Image description: there are 8 slides. Each has a beige background with outlines of flowers and text that says:
It’s hard to heal from an eat!ng d!sorder in a disordered culture: a thread
When headlines sound exactly like your ed and advertisements that reinforce your ed are popping up constantly, It’s easy to question if healing is even worth it. Here are some things to consider if you’re feeling uncertain or grappling with it.
Just because something is a cultural norm doesn’t mean it’s not disordered. Think of all of the things that may be viewed as a cultural norm but you know are problematic: patriarchy, racism, sexism, misogyny, etc.
The cultural messaging around food, ‘health’ and body size are a part of all of those systems that you know are problematic.
Keep reminding yourself that just because the culture normalizes something, doesn’t mean it’s not disordered and dangerous.
What’s the destination? Everyone’s experience with an eat!ng d!sorder is different, but if your ed is anything like mine was, there’s no “enough.” No place that the ed is finally satisfied. The culture is no different. There is no point at which complying with cultural messages about bodies ends. It will never be enough. Healing is hard, and depending on your beliefs about ed recovery, may be a lifelong process. But you are already enough when it comes to healing.
Healing doesn’t judge us, evaluate us, or require compliance. We get to define what healing means for us instead of an ed or disordered culture making decisions for us.
Continued in comments…

04/25/2026

CW: This clip from a podcast is rife with anti-fat bias and bigotry. I silenced the clip so you’ll only hear my voice, but I would highly recommend not reading the closed caption or checking out the show at all.
This came across my feed and made me so mad. Sort of ironic that I just posted about people’s anger at fat people existing this morning and then this shows up.
I have so much more to say about it, but for the moment just needed to vent about how messed up it is.
I love fat community and would rather be impacted by fat people than by people like this who are so stigmatizing and harmful and who believe that thin people are better than- or superior to- fat people.

04/25/2026

Anytime I post videos or pictures of myself, I get at least a handful of messages expressing anger and outrage at my existence.
The messages are almost always from people who don’t follow me. The messages I get from people who do follow me are typically ones of gratitude and letting me know how helpful it is to see images of fat people who aren’t apologizing for taking up space or trying to shrink.
When I get the angry and hateful messages, I get curious what people are really mad at. Are they really mad about my fat body? Or that fat people exist?
I respect body autonomy and am not asking anyone to do anything differently with their bodies. But still people get so angry and send vile messages.
And I know I’m not the only fat person getting messages like this.
I can’t help but wonder if people sending these messages are really that mad about fat people existing or if they’re mad fat people exist and live full lives without trying to get thin, while they are still caught up in trying to shrink their bodies?
Are they mad at fat people who refuse to participate in dieting and refuse to hate our bodies? And then is that anger or is it jealousy? Is it anger or is it sadness?
I have unending amounts of empathy for anyone who is in that place. I have been there and know how awful it is. How all consuming it is to hate your body and be trying to shrink it.
If that’s the place you are in, I get it. I have no judgment. And, that is your healing work to do if you decide to do it one day.
The feelings that come up when you see my fat body or other fat bodies, is not really about our bodies at all.
You get to have all of your feelings. I hope you have a therapist to talk to about them, just like I would be encouraging you to talk to me about your feelings if I was your therapist.
And, none of us in fat bodies should be the recipients of your projections.
If seeing my body makes you mad, instead of messaging me to tell me about it, maybe take the opportunity to reflect on what’s coming up in you and what is actually making you so angry. Because it’s not really about anyone else’s fat body.

04/23/2026

Just needing to vent. The lack of representation of weight inclusive providers in the media is so frustrating. Especially when having conversations about intentional weight loss.
If you are a media outlet, who wants to have a nuanced conversation and include weight inclusive providers, I’m available.

Let’s talk about “food noise…”Image description: each image has a light green outline with text that says:Let’s talk abo...
04/22/2026

Let’s talk about “food noise…”

Image description: each image has a light green outline with text that says:
Let’s talk about
“food noise...”
You have likely heard the term food noise connected to conversations about GLP-1s for weight loss
That’s because the weight loss industry popularized the term to describe what they refer to as evidence of a pathological relationship with food. They then sell their product as a way to stop “food noise.”
But what is “food noise?”
Many of us think that “food noise” is just hunger being pathologized by the weight loss industry.
It gets described as thinking about food, obsessing about food, feeling a constant pull to eat
All things that happen when we are hungry.
So “food noise” might mean hungry
But “food noise” could also be:
Evidence of deprivation/restriction-
It could be depriving yourself of certain foods, or of enough food
Being deprived due to lack of access to food
Eating enough/eating all foods while believing that you shouldn’t be or planning not to in the future (ie “l’ll start my diet on monday” or “i shouldn’t be eating these xyz food,” while eating the xyz food)
But “food noise” could also be:
A result of dieting or an eat!ng d!sorder-even if you haven’t dieted in years, there can be long-term effects of dieting that mean thinking or obsessing about food even long after you stopped dieting. The same thing with an ed. Even if you haven’t struggled in years, you may still think/obsess about food as a result of all the years of struggling.
And if you are currently dieting or dealing with an eat!ng d’sorder, your thoughts or obsessions about food, are probably turned way up.
But “food noise” could also be:
Cravings- it is normal to crave food. We crave food for all kinds of reasons; we’re in the mood for it, it reminds of a certain mood or season, we remember something associated with that food, our body needs something that’s in that food, it tastes good, etc. When we are craving something we think about it a lot. When we are craving something and don’t have access to it (for whatever reason), we think about it more.
Continued in comments.

04/22/2026

Acting as if weight stigma has no impact on anything is one of the weight loss industry’s favorite tricks.
When they talk about correlation between higher weight and certain health conditions, they love to leave out the fact that weight stigma in and of itself could be creating the correlation.
And now they are starting to talk about GLP-1s “improving” mental health, while leaving out how experiencing less weight stigma when losing weight may be creating the improvement in mood.
Of course they don’t mention weight stigma, let alone control for it. They just put out headlines that GLP1s may improve mood. They don’t bother mentioning that there are studies that show the opposite- GLP1s worsening mental health.
If experiencing less weight stigma improves mental health, what happens when someone inevitably gains weight back and experiences more weight stigma?
I would love to know if GLP-1s improve mental health. There’s a lot I would love to know about GLP-1s, but it’s information we won’t get if weight stigma is left out of the conversation.
As always, it’s important to differentiate between GLP-1s being used for intentional weight loss and for type 2 diabetes. This post is referring to GLP-1s being prescribed and used for intentional weight loss.

I’ve been sitting with this one for a while Debating the pros and cons of sharing it. I want to be clear that this is no...
04/16/2026

I’ve been sitting with this one for a while Debating the pros and cons of sharing it. I want to be clear that this is not about comparing oppressions. Oppressions can’t be compared and also all intersect.
The reason I decided to share this is because there are parallels between these two aspects of my identity and how the culture responds to them.
I am guessing that most providers who support or profit off of intentional weight loss, would say they are opposed to conversion therapy.
And they would probably be telling the truth. But then completely miss the parallel to body size.
I know this might be a leap for a lot of people. It requires an understanding that just like q***rness is not changeable, body size is not changeable.
And that even if either of these were changeable, there would be no reason to change them. It is only in the context of stigma that attempting to change these is even a thought.
And people who support intentional weight loss and people who support conversion therapy are trying to use stigma to change a stigmatized part of someone’s identity. There’s no way to address stigma with stigma.
They are both a form of eugenics. Conversion therapy is an attempt to rid the world of q***r people. Intentional weight loss is an attempt to rid the world of fat people.
If I know that someone provides/profits from intentional weight loss, I know they aren’t a safe person for me or any fat person.
If I know that someone provides/profits from conversion therapy, I know they aren’t a safe person for me or any q***r person.
If you are a fat person pursuing intentional weight loss or a q***r person pursuing conversion therapy, This post has nothing to do with you. This is about people providing or profiting from these things. Not people who are oppressed trying to decrease the amount of stigma they encounter.
There’s way more to say than what I can fit here, but if you support intentional weight loss and are opposed to conversion therapy, take time to reflect on the parallels and consider if your ethics and morals are really aligned with encouraging intentional weight loss.
And if you support conversion therapy, unfollow me now.

04/14/2026

I am about half way through new book, Adult Braces. I also came across this substack by processing her feelings about what Lindy talks about in the book.
As I was reading about Jennifer’s feelings about Lindy talking more openly in her book about the complicated relationship she has with her body, I remembered when Jennifer talked about getting bariatric surgery years ago.
Jennifer talked about her decision and recognized she was going to be letting people down by pursuing intentional weight loss.
And even with her own complicated relationship with her body and knowing what it’s like to be put on a pedestal as one of very few well known plus size people, she still put Lindy on a pedestal.
And I can understand why. There are so few fat people who are well known and have big followings who talk about their fatness and don’t pursue intentional weight loss. It feels like we have to cling so tightly to what we have.
But it sets up a standard that is never expected of thin people. But with public figures who are fat we expect them to love their body all of the time and not be vulnerable because
if they admit to the complexity of being in a fat body, we fear that we may lose another fat person to intentional weight loss or it will somehow prove diet culture and everyone who upholds it, “right.”
I want all of the plus size and fat representation we can get. I want every well known fat person or every fat person with a following to talk about fat liberation and not to pursue intentional weight loss.
But I also want truth. If the expectation of being a well known fat person is never feeling bad about your body or never grappling with the pull to weight loss, then we will never have the fat representation we so desperately need.

04/11/2026

I was at the grocery store earlier and found these two products on the shelf next to each other 😤
It’s only in a culture seeped in anti-fat bias that products called “skinny pop” and “like air” exist.
Seriously. WTAF is going on? There are so many terrible things happening in the world and this is what’s going on in the grocery store.
Talk about trying to keep us all distracted and small.
And for everyone in the grocery store struggling with an ed or disordered eating or who’s dieting or thinks their body is a problem, these products are reinforcing all of it.
It’s easy to just roll our eyes at products like this because they are so absurd, and they are absolutely absurd. But their existence isn’t neutral. The names of these products is intentional. The message is clear and it’s BS.

04/09/2026

has been talking about her eat!ng d!sorder history and shares about it in her upcoming book.
I am glad she’s talking about it because I’m sure it will be helpful for a lot of people, and it also challenges the narrative around thin equals happy and that being in an idealized body means feeling good or not impacted by anti-fat bias.
Christina is a reminder of how weight stigma and anti-fat bias impact all of us and how the system is designed to keep all women- no matter what their body size- distracted and controllable and working on the “project” of our body instead of on our liberation.
If you are thin and think you aren’t impacted by anti-fat bias, think again. Fat people are impacted differently than thin people, but none of us escape it when it’s so insidious.
Anti-fat bias took Christina out of her life. It meant she was hungry and distracted and under constant surveillance when she was thin and struggling with her ed.
It meant she couldn’t be present and enjoy getting the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because she was worried about what people were thinking about her weight gain.
This is why fat liberation needs to be for all of us. Thin people aren’t free until fat people are free.

04/08/2026

I was away for spring break for a week and obviously couldn’t ride my while I was away.
I am so grateful for my current relationship with movement that allows me to go away for a week without anxiety about not doing movement or finding ways to do movement while I’m away.
When I got back, I was looking forward to riding my peloton again, but otherwise wasn’t thinking too much about it.
But I noticed right away how good my body felt. I felt stronger and well rested and it was a great ride.
It made me think about my ed days when I couldn’t take a day off let alone a week off. It was a good reminder of how important rest is.
It also made me think about all the messages we get about movement and fitness. Messages like if we take time off we are going to “lose fitness,” or things like that.
And there would be nothing wrong with that. Taking time off and then coming back and needing to build strength or endurance back up happens and makes total sense.
And, a week off had absolutely no impact on my endurance or strength. The fear mongering in the fitness industry makes it seem like the second we take time away everything will fall apart.
I took a week away and nothing fell apart. In fact, my body felt stronger and more rested.
Our bodies need rest. They need breaks. And nothing terrible will happen when we take them.

Address

Doylestown, PA
18940

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 3pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rachel Millner, Psy.D. posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Rachel Millner, Psy.D.:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category