smaller region sizes seem to help, try to design a smaller region with everything you need.
Smaller embark sites.
Also, getting rid of cavern layers in your world gen helps immensely. Go for 1 cavern and a bottom layer, or no bottom layer and magma, this will cut down your z-levels immensely and make everything rather accessable as well. Go for flat embark sites, which includes the entire 16x16 square. If you have a mountain or something 350+ z levels high somewhere in your 16x16 area it will create a big open sky that can hurt your FPS.
Modding out or simplifying clothing might help. Keep in might that clothing does function as a sort of armor and if you leave temperature on, your nekkid humanoids will be hurting, especially in freezing biomes. Robes, shoes, hat and maybe gloves. I just rename them to "headgear" "Clothing" "footwear" ect.
Don't embark on rivers if you use caverns.
Try to "build vertical" meaning keep your workshops, depots, food stores, ect, anyplace your dwarves go often above or below with stairs. It cuts down pathfinding a lot. Build lots of up/down stairs when you can afford to, baring in mind it makes getting around easier for any invaders that get inside your fort as well.
I like to embark with unskilled miners and 7 picks, so there is not so much extra stone littering the fort when I'm just first carving out the basics in my fort and leaving the metal veins, aline untill everything is established. Every worthless item on the map adds up.