Originally Posted by noglider

Here is another approach. If you can't ride some hills with your current setup, how much time would you be spending pushing your bike? If it's just a small fraction, how about doing just that? That's what people used to do. We didn't insist on riding up every incline. And if you're interested in becoming more fit, you can watch your progress by seeing that fraction of your time decrease from month to month. I'm not saying you should lose weight, though of course you are free to. Some obese people are excellent cyclists.