Thirty years ago malnourished Chilean children were recovered by CONIN; they were fed ad libitum and this may have favoured the appearance of overweight-obesity (SP/OB). The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between energy-calorie intake during nutritional recovery and the appearance of overweight-obesity (SP/OB). The design was a retrospective, analytical study of the universe formed by the 168 clinical records found, of children below 2 years of age, recovered by CONIN between 1977 and 1982. Nutritional status was assessed using the Sempé criteria (applied in the period evaluated) and those of WHO, (currently in use), on admission, after 4 month treatment and on discharge. By Sempé criteria, malnutrition on admission was classified 25% severe, 63% moderate and 12% mild; instead, using WHO standards these figures were 14.9%, 29.2% y 38.1%, respectively; the remaining children were well nourished. On discharge, there was no SP/OB by W/A (Sempé), but by W/H (WHO) 6% and 13.8% were SP/OB after 3 months and on discharge, respectively. Food intake, administered ad libitum, reached a mean of 148 kcals/ kg/d and 4 g prot/kg/d. SP/OB children had greater daily weight gain (30.3 vs 19.2 g/d) than the non-obese children and greater daily weight gain than the mean for age and sex (19.7 vs 8.2 g/dia). The prescribed feeding reached values considered high by currently used criteria; actual intake, administered ad-libitum, was significantly lower and was associated with 13.8% of children with overweight-obesity at the time of discharge.