A steel hybrid can easily break 40 lbs. It can also be a lot less... depends on how it was built. An easy way to check is to weigh yourself, then weigh yourself holding the bike. Then you have a baseline for judging how you're doing on the bike.

I don't use toe-clips or clipless pedals. I also don't race. If you intend to race, it's good to have some way of keeping foot and pedal together. Safer that way. You can do a number on yourself if your feet slip off the pedals at speed. Toe clips and clipless pedals can also really improve your cycling form, thus making it easier to ride hard. I'll eventually add toe-clips to my bike, but I'm not in a rush. The groceries aren't going anywhere, and I have more important upgrades to spend the gas money on. You... are in a very different position.

Have you tried playing around with the gears to see if any of the second and third chainrings (the ones up front) have gears that are similar in feel to the ones you've been using on the first chainring? It's pretty common for bikes to have several similar gears (on mine, 3/3, 2/5 and 1/8 are all about the same). It *may* be that if 1/7 or 1/8 are your "up to speed" gears, that you can move onto the second chainring and have more speed available. Since you're using regular pedals, if your cadence gets too high, you risk losing your footing. If the second chainring has some additional speeds that work for you and don't hurt, you can go faster and maintain a safe cadence.

Oh, and don't try to combine longer rides with higher gears all at once. Play with the higher gears on really short rides. Long rides are good too, but for those you should stick with familiar gears. As you develop more power and endurance, you can add high gear on long rides. But jumping in with both feet is a good way to get sore.