Fasting is healthy if you're smart about it, if i need to cut i'll do 18 hour fast and then my meal is just boneless skinless chicken breast with white rice, you can always add cilantro, coconut oil to the pan when youre cooking the chicken or look up some stuff to do with the white rice, some people season the rice inside the rice cooker while its cooking to make it not so bland as you stated. dont drink too much cold water, cold water uses energy to warm up your body when that energy could be used for your metabolism and breaking down of foods (something like that, i didnt read much into it but there's new studies coming out about room temp water can have an effect on weight loss.)
OR you can download MyFitnessPal on your phone, set a goal for yourself (maintain under X amount of calories) and eat whatever you want... i dont recommend but could work