diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/bf16_optimizer.py b/deepspeed/runtime/bf16_optimizer.py
index aaa836bf1c31..406888bd5030 100644
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/bf16_optimizer.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/bf16_optimizer.py
@@ -445,6 +445,8 @@ def _load_legacy_checkpoint(self, state_dict_list, load_optimizer_states=True, l
             self._link_all_hp_params()
 
     def _load_universal_checkpoint(self, checkpoint_folder, load_optimizer_states, load_from_fp32_weights):
+        self.optimizer.step()
+        self._lazy_init_hp_params_optimizer_state()
         self._load_hp_checkpoint_state(checkpoint_folder)
 
     @property
diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py b/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
index 5c1202ba06ae..664ff1a89c0a 100644
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
@@ -2785,7 +2785,7 @@ def load_checkpoint(self,
         if self.load_universal_checkpoint():
             self.optimizer.update_lp_params()
             if load_zero_checkpoint:
-                self.update_optimizer_step(step=client_states['iteration'] + 1)
+                self.update_optimizer_step(step=client_states['iteration'])
 
         return load_path, client_states