diff --git a/src/bootimage.cpp b/src/bootimage.cpp
index 32bfe75e82..05f99c605e 100644
--- a/src/bootimage.cpp
+++ b/src/bootimage.cpp
@@ -496,8 +496,10 @@ makeCodeImage(Thread* t, Zone* zone, BootImage* image, uint8_t* code,
             }
 
             if (fieldFlags(t, field) & ACC_STATIC) {
-              while (targetStaticOffset % targetSize) {
-                ++ targetStaticOffset;
+              unsigned excess = (targetStaticOffset % targetSize)
+                % TargetBytesPerWord;
+              if (excess) {
+                targetStaticOffset += TargetBytesPerWord - excess;
               }
 
               buildStaticOffset = fieldOffset(t, field);
diff --git a/src/machine.cpp b/src/machine.cpp
index 92622cd5ca..838564b5ef 100644
--- a/src/machine.cpp
+++ b/src/machine.cpp
@@ -1145,8 +1145,9 @@ parseFieldTable(Thread* t, Stream& s, object class_, object pool)
 
       unsigned size = fieldSize(t, code);
       if (flags & ACC_STATIC) {
-        while (staticOffset % size) {
-          ++ staticOffset;
+        unsigned excess = (staticOffset % size) % BytesPerWord;
+        if (excess) {
+          staticOffset += BytesPerWord - excess;
         }
 
         fieldOffset(t, field) = staticOffset;