This is interesting. When my mother was growing up, folks she knew abstained from meat on Wednesdays & Fridays throughout Lent. I know, when I worked in restaurants, we always had meatless options on those days.
From everything I can find, though, folks really only seem to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, but it's totally fine to eat meat on Wednesdays (except Ash Wednesday).
Did that change at some point? Are there different rules for different parts of the country/world?
My mother was raised Methodist, and has been Lutheran for my entire life, but she still abstains from eating meat on Wednesdays and Fridays, because that's how everyone she knew growing up did things.
I've never really observed the Catholic fasting/abstinence rules of Lent, because I've never been Catholic or even surrounded by Catholics, so I really have no idea what the rules are, or who tends to follow them (I assume Catholics aren't the only ones, but I don't know who else would/does).
And, for those who are interested, here is what Martin Luther had to say about it in the Augsburg Confession:
"We do not condemn fasting in itself, but the traditions which prescribe certain days and certain meats, with peril of conscience, as though such works were a necessary service."
So, I guess that's why, as a lifelong Lutheran, I've never really known much about the rules of fasting during Lent.