Quick answer: The majority of swelling resolves within 2 months, a small amount takes up to a year.
A tummy tuck is a major procedure that requires "lifting up" your stomach skin (dividing lymphatic drainage vessels from under the skin surface), pulling it down to reset the tension of the skin, and then an excision to remove the excess. Basically, the skin from the scar up to your ribcage is in a new environment. It can only drain fluid "up" and to the sides. Until new lymphatic connections occur across the scar line and down to the stomach muscles, all this swelling fluid has to run against gravity to get out of the skin. This is one of the reasons that we suggest patients wear compression garments for a period of time after surgery - these garments assist with the "uphill" removal of fluid, and you may feel more comfortable wearing them until those new connections occur.
A simple way to judge how you are doing is to look at the indentations that elastic clothing create on your trunk. One the front, you will see more of a lasting impression than on your back / flank region (even though there is even pressure all the way around your body) (I'm assuming you did not have flank liposuction or anything back there.) This is a way you can monitor the swelling, and you can expect it to go away over several months. After a few months, most of what patients consider "noticeable" swelling has resolved.
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