I have looked into slow burn and it does look interesting. My reservation is that it seems to be a bodybuilding technique for bulking up very quickly. Now before you say women can't bulk up, I seem to be an exception to that. Last time I weight trained seriously I got very bulky, especially my arms, to the point I couldn't fit in most standard sized shirts, and this was on 3 sets of 12-15 reps. Whilst I might want to get there again eventually I suppose, super bulking is not really my aim at the moment.

I think I will start out by using the free weights at the gym - say 3 sets of 5-8 reps, which should build muscle quite fast, and keeping it up during the week with body weight exercises at home (pressups, crunches, lunges etc). I have been doing just these body weight exercises twice at home in the last week, and already I can feel a difference in fimness and tone, and my weightloss has speeded up.

Thanks again for all the replies!