in wordpress ecosystem do not blame yourself if you end up with a bloated site :)
For example, the product gallery is such all images - thumbs and main slides - load on page load. If you don't click any thumbs - and had 10 total images - 9 would have loaded for naught.
But there are BE + FE ways to fix that :)
Also, WooComm recently introduced HPOS that moved order meta into its own table. Smart! But there is still order data captured for every order (e.g., customer order IP, etc).that's in the meta table. Why those we're moved to the new table IDK.
Yeah, perhaps there are times when WP isn't the ideal choice from a pure technology POV, but there's more to it than that. For example, most (solo) devs complete dismiss the "getting hit by a bus" test. Sorry, but no one should accept advice from anyone who dismisses that test.