diff --git a/fs/bcachefs/journal.c b/fs/bcachefs/journal.c
index adec8e1ea73e..3835c458eec9 100644
--- a/fs/bcachefs/journal.c
+++ b/fs/bcachefs/journal.c
@@ -1196,7 +1196,7 @@ int bch2_fs_journal_start(struct journal *j, u64 cur_seq)
 	struct journal_replay *i, **_i;
 	struct genradix_iter iter;
 	bool had_entries = false;
-	u64 last_seq = cur_seq, nr, seq;
+	u64 last_seq = cur_seq - 1, nr, seq;
 
 	genradix_for_each_reverse(&c->journal_entries, iter, _i) {
 		i = *_i;
@@ -1256,7 +1256,7 @@ int bch2_fs_journal_start(struct journal *j, u64 cur_seq)
 	}
 
 	if (!had_entries)
-		j->last_empty_seq = cur_seq;
+		j->last_empty_seq = cur_seq - 1;
 
 	spin_lock(&j->lock);