I'd suggest slowly increasing the amount you take. Though if you're taking it frequently you will have to account for a grown tolerance as well.

Edit: and if you stop for weeks at a time don't resume at the dose you were taking while consuming regularly.

No wörries. A lot of people do.

I remember expecting something much more, as the depictions from shows and movies were always pretty overt. (This was in early 00's.)

Ended up being more akin to like a similarly strong but opposite effect of caffeine. Caffeine makes me less hungry and more active. Weed does the opposite, more or less.