diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 5f8f93d83edf..5a41d93c7077 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -71,8 +71,9 @@ enum mem_cgroup_stat_index {
 	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_FILE_MAPPED,  /* # of pages charged as file rss */
 	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_PGPGIN_COUNT,	/* # of pages paged in */
 	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_PGPGOUT_COUNT,	/* # of pages paged out */
-	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_EVENTS,	/* sum of pagein + pageout for internal use */
 	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_SWAPOUT, /* # of pages, swapped out */
+	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_SOFTLIMIT, /* decrements on each page in/out.
+					used by soft limit implementation */
 
 	MEM_CGROUP_STAT_NSTATS,
 };
@@ -86,10 +87,10 @@ struct mem_cgroup_stat {
 };
 
 static inline void
-__mem_cgroup_stat_reset_safe(struct mem_cgroup_stat_cpu *stat,
-				enum mem_cgroup_stat_index idx)
+__mem_cgroup_stat_set_safe(struct mem_cgroup_stat_cpu *stat,
+				enum mem_cgroup_stat_index idx, s64 val)
 {
-	stat->count[idx] = 0;
+	stat->count[idx] = val;
 }
 
 static inline s64
@@ -411,9 +412,10 @@ static bool mem_cgroup_soft_limit_check(struct mem_cgroup *mem)
 
 	cpu = get_cpu();
 	cpustat = &mem->stat.cpustat[cpu];
-	val = __mem_cgroup_stat_read_local(cpustat, MEM_CGROUP_STAT_EVENTS);
-	if (unlikely(val > SOFTLIMIT_EVENTS_THRESH)) {
-		__mem_cgroup_stat_reset_safe(cpustat, MEM_CGROUP_STAT_EVENTS);
+	val = __mem_cgroup_stat_read_local(cpustat, MEM_CGROUP_STAT_SOFTLIMIT);
+	if (unlikely(val < 0)) {
+		__mem_cgroup_stat_set_safe(cpustat, MEM_CGROUP_STAT_SOFTLIMIT,
+				SOFTLIMIT_EVENTS_THRESH);
 		ret = true;
 	}
 	put_cpu();
@@ -546,7 +548,7 @@ static void mem_cgroup_charge_statistics(struct mem_cgroup *mem,
 	else
 		__mem_cgroup_stat_add_safe(cpustat,
 				MEM_CGROUP_STAT_PGPGOUT_COUNT, 1);
-	__mem_cgroup_stat_add_safe(cpustat, MEM_CGROUP_STAT_EVENTS, 1);
+	__mem_cgroup_stat_add_safe(cpustat, MEM_CGROUP_STAT_SOFTLIMIT, -1);
 	put_cpu();
 }