Confused about after meal testing results

The truth is somewhere in between. If you DID have a reading of 20 at one hour, I'd be concerned! BUT' we aren't trying to measure the peak level when we test. We measure at 2 hours because by then our BG should be back down to safe levels. THAT tells us what we can and can't eat. So providing we are below, say, 7.8 (preferably better) at two hours, our meal was ok. There is evidence that high peaks also cause damage, which is why 20 wouldn't be good, but in reality if you were at 20 at one hour, you wouldn't be back to safe levels at 2 hours anyway.
For this reason, unless you have unlimited strips, it's best to keep your testing to the 2 hour mark to identify a good eating plan for yourself. Once you've done that, you don't really need to keep checking the same meal, so you can reduce your testing and only do it when you eat something new or now and again to make sure your diabetes isn't changing.

Hi I agree with you, trying to keep your bm's below 7 mmol. It is generally accepted that the threshold for damage to start is 6.8mmol. It therefore makes sense to keep your levels below this as much as possible.
As a pre diabetic, you are in the best posistion to prevent progression to full diabetes. It makes total sense to keep your bm's in the normal range all of the time if at all possible.
If you have enough strips, its best to test before, 1 & 2 hrs after eating. testing before will give you a base level, At one hour you will have the maximum level, and will therfore know how much that meal raises your blood sugar. You will only need to do this a couple of times and you will know the affects of that meal. For example it raises your bm's by say 2mmol. Everytime you have that meal you will know what the affect will be.
The reason for testing at 2 hrs, over and above checking you are back to normal. You will find that some foods will raise your bm's for over two hours. You need to check for this. For example wholemeal pasta used to raise my bm's for about 3 hrs. I don't eat it any more.

I hope this makes some sense to you. It's a bit costly on strips to start with, but within a short space of time , you will have a log of all your normal meals and thier affects. You will only then need to test if you have something new.

Best of luck, keep up the good work, It's nice to see a pre diabetic realising the potential problems that could be developing.

It's up to you how much "spiking" you are willing to tolerate. I'm pre-diabetic, trying to prevent a diagnosis, so when I test, I test at 1 hour to catch the highest reading. I don't like to see numbers over 6, so I wouldn't put up with your 9.