Angie, you are doing great as it is. You looked lean in the photo you put up with some decent muscle tone, much better than the average Woman in my opinion. So whatever you have been doing has been working.
As for the conflicting advice, of course the guy at a Health Care shop is going to be telling you to buy more products, it is in his best interest. It happened to me a bit when I started. I would say the most accurate information you would get would be from people around here. A few people have photos posted and if they look muscular and are dedicated, chances are they know what is going on.
This is how it is for me in order of priority.
1. Diet - Without this in order everything else is a basically a waste of time. A good diet will determine the types of results you get.
2. Training - You need to train for what you want. Consistency and intensity is the key. You need to bust your ass, and do it frequently. Especially if you want to build muscle.
3. Rest - This is also very important when you want to build muscle. To put it simply, when you are sleeping is when your body is building muscle.
4. Supplements - This is a distant 4th as well. I will outline the supps I take and the supps that I think are important.
- Protein Powder - Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) is fine, Why Protein Isolate (WPI) can be expensive and studies suggest it has mariginal benefit over WPC. I also use a Cassein Protein before going to bed. If I don't have Cassein I will eat some Cottage Cheese or something else high in protein that will take a while to break down while I sleep. If you are taking Cassein you do not need to also have Cottage Cheese. They are a substitute of each other basically.
- Multi Vitamin - Some say that if you have a well balanced diet that this is not needed. I still take one though just to top me up if I need it. I am not even sure I do though.
- Creatine - I use Creatine on and off. I am not sure if it does give much affect to me to be honest. It is supposed to supply energy to muscles.
- Fish Oil Caps - Good source of Omega 3 fatty acids. We all know what this stuff does as they harp on about it all the time.
The important times for protein and some carbs are both before and after Workouts. You want to make sure you have some carbs to fuel your workout along with a small amount of protein. After your workout once again you want some carbs and a relatively fast absorbing protein, WPC is fine for that. You should then eat about 30 - 60 mins after your workout. It is also important to eat as soon as you rise or as soon as you can, this will firstly nourish your body and also give your metabolism a good kick start.
Other people like Fadi or Shrek who know a heap more about this might be able to give some more info. But it really is not complicated at all, it is actually very simple. So many people try and over complicate it or go really deep with everything you need. Athletes at the top level could probably benefit from this, but the average weightlifter probably won't so much. If you get the first 3 steps right you are going to get good results. Supplements should be just that, supplementry to a good diet and used in moderation.
but tbh i thought it would taste a bit better