Mark Rippetoe made a FANTASTIC program to get beginners into weightlifting. I started with this and gained about 15lbs of muscle in 2 months. Stick to this program and don’t add ANYTHING.

Workouts should be as early as you can make them…. working out at night causes people to sty up because of the adrenaline rush.

Cardio should be done first thing in the morning on an EMPTY STOMACH.This burns the fat instantly, instead of targeting the food you just ate. Do this 3 times a week for and make sure you feel like your butt has just been kicked after the cardio…. doesn’t really matter how long, as long as you have at least 20 minutes of your heart rate elevated.

Protein from GNC should be ok….just ask the people if it has any artificial additives. If it doesn’t…buy it. All protein powder is alike. Take the protein AFTER each workout within an hour. It helps to reconstruct the muscle you just tore in the gym, and thus you heal faster.

Here’s your conflict though. You CANNOT really burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. In order to gain muscle, you have to eat more calories than you burn. BUT in order to lose fat, you have to eat less calories than you burn. See the conflict? Very few people can do this. I would start losing your weight first, and THEN eating more to gain muscle.

Check out this website, and here is the link to the Mark Rippetoe workout…. remember…follow it to a T.

Good luck to you both.
References :
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752