Weight only really matters when you're accelerating and going up hills. On the plus side, it helps going down hills.
But honestly, the weight difference between running 23mm vs running 32mm is ... 100 grams per tire for
Gatorskins, and another 25 grams for wider
Kenda tubes, and another 71 grams for wider rims (Velocity
Synergys vs
Aeroheads). Double that for two tires - so 392 grams, or about 13.8 ounces.
I mean, sure, if you're a 150 lb racer riding a 15 lb bike, that ~3/4 pound is going to be 0.47% of your total weight. That will mean the difference of several seconds in a long endurance race or a significant fraction of a second in a shorter race. And if you're racing for money, that
is important. But this is the clyde forum. None of are Cat-1/2 racers and aren't likely to ever be; half a pound for a 200+ rider is the proverbial drop in the bucket.
I mean, it's not nothing; we're talking 0.39% (assuming 200lb rider on a 20lb bike) weight - which means that much more energy spent, netting a loss of speed of about half that. Over an imperial century, if your old average speed was 15mph, it'd take you an extra 47 seconds of saddle time.
Running 700x32s buys you a lot. You get a more comfortable ride, that corners better, and is much less likely to suffer spectacular blowouts because you're running at the lower-end of the recommended pressure for the tire instead of right at the max.
Everybody's gotta ride their own ride, but my personal preference is to be comfortable and not worry so much about flats. But then again, I'm the sort who runs with fenders, so I'll never be accepted into the Ricky Racer Club.