Beginner strength training

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I would suggest focusing on compound moments that work more than 1 muscle group at a time. Look into the programs:
New Rules of Lifting for Women (book with tips and programs)
Starting Strength (Book with a lot of good info and routine)
Stronglifts 5x5 (Google it to get into and the workouts)

If you don't know how to do any of the lifts, ask someone and check youtube.

Any strength training is good, as long as you are doing it safely. I would highly recommend at the least that you are doing some strength/resistance training using your own body weight (that way you don't have to spend a lot of money on equipment).

Planking
Pushups
Dips
Squats
Lunges
Leg Raises

Buy a couple of dumb bells (usually about $1 per pound at sports stores) and you can add in all kinds of exercises, sush as:

Bicep curls
Tricep extensions
Butterflies
bench
incline bench
arm raises
and so on

The key is to do them safely and correctly, so please do a quick google on exercises before starting them for the first time, even if you think you already know how to do them. Also a very general rule of thumb to keep in mind is: Low weight + high repetition = toned muscles. High weight + repetition to fatigue = increased muscle mass.

Strength training would impede your weight loss but it may slow it down a little. The advantage is you will maintain lean muscle mass and lose primarily fat. One of the things that happens with eating a deficit and/ or aiding that with cardio is that approimately 20% to 25% of the loss is lean muscle mass. Strength Training helps preserve this muscle mass.

I wold highly recommed as a begininer that you find I program you like and stick with it for awhile to see results. Below are a few suggestions:

Starting Strength
Stronglifts 5x5 (very verbose website but great iPhone app for tracking and very effective program)
New Rules for Lifting

Strength training would not impede your weight loss if your deficit is the same. Weight loss comes down to deficit. There will most likely be some water retention when starting out to protect the muscles and aid in recovery, but once you are use to the workout your muscle will shed most of that water.

You are correct about retaining lean mass as you lose fat. Strength training is great for ensuring most of your weight loss comes from fat, instead of lean muscle.

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Not sure if its great but I use fitness mags to check out new strength routines. Some are for the more nimble but sometimes their wrbsites keep archives of the older, less challenging ones. I personally like SELF.

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