Finally got my fat ass back in shape after a few years of constant drug and alcohol abuse.
For beginners, find a decent plan online and stick to it. Change it up every month or so. Cardio is good, but circuit training is where it's at if you need to lose weight.
Protein, glutamine powder for recovery and general multi vitamin until you start to get strong. NO-XPLODE is just caffeine that gets you pumped. None of the modern day Hydroxycut works worth a damn, you need the good old school ephedra for that. If you want to take "illegals" look at Clenbuterol, 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Fat will melt.

Make sure on Clen to dose up the potassium and taurine.
If you're a beginner, you will get gains for a while until you hit some plateaus. Changing up the workouts help to prevent that. Plateaus suck for sure.
DIET IS HUGE. You eat the same food whether you are losing weight, or bulking, just changing around calorie counts. Lots of oatmeal, egg whites, chicken, tuna, fish, and salad.
Some beginner cycles of anabolics are fine too. Even at super low doses (where side effects are nill) they can do wonders. Buddy who is 5'8", 160, and about 10% BF just did 12 weeks of Test E, 300mg a week, and put on a solid 20lbs. 20lbs onto his frame turned him into a BEAST. Plus for what you pay for the latest designer supplements, you can do something that will go against all genetics and put on size and muscle that matters. Back it up with proper PCT and you can hold onto those gains.