Pay attention people. fiveOfan has a one to one low gear.
fiveOfan was asking why khutch has found climbing very steep short hills in a gear slightly higher than his low gear to be easier than in his lower gear. I'm guessing it's because he is strong enough to maintain his cadence in the slightly higher gear and downshifting would cause him to be under geared, the "pedaling air" feeling when you are in too low a gear and can't spin fast enough to put any power into the drivetrain.
episodic, congratulations! Keep up the good work! You will loose weight, gain fitness and learn the fine points of shifting. Try to keep it at a gear that your feet are moving fast and the effort needed stays fairly constant.
I guess at this point, you might benefit from a lower low gear. Yes you can swap for the 22/32/42 crankset and it shouldn't require a different derailleur as khutch suggests. Changing the cassette to a megarange like you had on the Fuji would probably require a longer chain and possibly a different derailleur, so changing the crankset makes more sense.