diff --git a/liquidprompt b/liquidprompt
index d560f69..c105154 100755
--- a/liquidprompt
+++ b/liquidprompt
@@ -1174,22 +1174,23 @@ _lp_load_color()
 
     [[ "$LP_ENABLE_LOAD" != 1 ]] && return
 
-    local load
-    load="$(_lp_cpu_load | sed 's/\.//g;s/^0*//g' )"
-    let "load=${load:-0}/$_lp_CPUNUM"
+    local tmp=$(_lp_cpu_load)
+    tmp=${tmp/./}   # Remove '.'
+    tmp=${tmp#0}    # Remove leading '0'
+    tmp=${tmp#0}    # Remove leading '0', again (ex: 0.09)
+    local -i load=${tmp:-0}/$_lp_CPUNUM
 
-    if [[ $load -ge $LP_LOAD_THRESHOLD ]]
-    then
-        local ret="$(_lp_color_map $load) ${LP_MARK_LOAD}"
+    if (( load > $LP_LOAD_THRESHOLD )); then
+        local ret="$(_lp_color_map $load)${LP_MARK_LOAD}"
 
-        if [[ "$LP_PERCENTS_ALWAYS" -eq "1" ]]; then
+        if [[ "$LP_PERCENTS_ALWAYS" == 1 ]]; then
             if $_LP_SHELL_bash; then
                 ret="${ret}$load%"
             else # zsh
                 ret="${ret}$load%%"
             fi
         fi
-        echo -ne "${ret}${NO_COL}"
+        echo -nE "${ret}${NO_COL}"
     fi
 }