Feeling really overwhelmed

Look into "The New Rules of Lifting for Women".

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Rules-Lifting-Women/dp/1583333398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393909916&sr=8-1&keywords=new+rules+of+lifting+for+women

Agreed. I am about a month into this program and I love it! Lots of good info for beginners. I would only add that I downloaded it to my iPad kindle first but found it too hard to see pics. I'd recommend the paperback.

Firstly - take a deep breath and relax. To me it sounds like you are in a good place health wise.

I don't know what machine you measured your BMI on but these can be inherently inaccurate. Body calipers are the most reliable method to go by. It sounds like you are pretty healthy with a relatively modest 22 lbs of "excess" fat. Yes you can gain muscle you may gain like 0.5 - 1.0 lbs per month the good news is that if you are new to weight training the results are typically at the higher end (just a fact of life).

My opinion is focus on the the fat reduction and incorporate some resistance training to spark up the muscles - cardio every day possible (30mins ish) and before your resistance training (every other day if possible) do your cardio first - you want to deplete the blood glucose first since you already going to a gym I would start on the cable weight gear to build some strength first at least 8 up to 12 weeks or so - from there you can look at free weights etc... which In my opinion have a greater potential in the longer term - Take body measurements now to monitor progress (as weight alone is not going to be the best indicator). Get your BMI estimated with calipers and monitor this as your BMI - the conductive machines are indicative only.

Remember that muscles do not grow in the gym they grow in the repair cycle which is why you want to load them up every second day. You can do "arm day"; "leg day" etc... but I would suggest for now stick to the basics and keep it simple - an all round weight cycle something like Leg Press, Shoulder Press, Chest Press, Lat Pull down and seated row. This will target all the major groups and get you started. For the weights watch your form on the machines and lift a weight that you can get through 3 sets of 12 with 30 secs in between sets - if you feel your muscles warming up then you are around the right weight - if you can do the weights easily time to up the weight a little.

For your cardio anything that gets your heart rate up - 25 - 30 mins. Rowing machine if you pick this just do 1KM as fast as comfortably possible), cycle, treadmill (20mins - then get off it and get to your weight session! - I don't like the treadmill (I never recommend the elliptical thing because I just find it odd to use - personal bias). On your "non weight day" sure go to the gym if you like but you just want to do some cardio which you can do anywhere - walking, jogging, playing with the kids or go to the gym do some cardio and one of their classes ....

The body fat machines are finicky. They did that at the gym I joined. Then I bought my own - and the instructions say you can't use it within two hours of eating or working out. And sure enough, if you do, it changes the result. By a decent amount, too - like 3% sometimes.

If you think you need to drop a few pounds (which I'm guessing you do since you went to the gym and popped up here) just fill in your info on MFP and count your calories. If you get the fat down where you're happy with it and want to build some muscle, go for it! But don't put too much stock in what they said at the gym. They're in the business of selling gym memberships. If they said "Nope, you're fine!" it wouldn't fit the business model. lol

Just one point - you can't do both at the same time. You're either at a calorie deficit and losing weight (mostly fat, we hope, but a little muscle too) or you're at a calorie surplus and gaining weight (mostly muscle, we hope, but some fat too). Working out at the gym can help on both sides of that coin. Preserving muscle while you're losing, and making muscle while you're gaining.

But, again, you don't need to gain 10 lbs. of muscle because someone at a gym said so. Especially if you're at a normal BMI now. No reason not to try to get more fit if *you* want to. But it's up to you. Don't stress over it.